Sparring
by Brynna
Summary: Ronon brings Teyla back to Atlantis after she goes missing. RononTeyla. Started way back in Season 2. Now AU. COMPLETE!
1. Prologue: Obsession

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

**Prologue - Obsession**

_He kept his head down, allowed the thick dreadlocks to cover his face. A glass of the local beverage of choice was making an idle path across the bar as he shifted it from hand to hand. The weapons that he had dared to take into this place were concealed by his long coat. _

_It was like every other seedy tavern he had been to in the past month. The trail he was on seemed to continually lead to places just like this and to shady men with even shadier information. _

_He observed everything through his hair, listened intently, stiffened when anyone stepped too close. A man sat on the vacant stool beside him. Ronon took a sip from the glass as he heard the man order one for himself._

_"I found a trail."_

_The words meant nothing to Ronon anymore. He had heard it a dozen times. He lifted his drink to his lips again. "Yeah?"_

_"Well, no actually."_

_Ronon growled and shifted a hand to the concealed knife at his thigh._

_The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. He placed it under his glass and kept staring ahead. "I saw her."_

_That meant something. Ronon held his breath, finally letting hope touch the places it had vacated. He traced a scar in the wood of the bar with his finger, watched droplets of condensation run down his cup. "Alive?"_

_He felt the man shrug even though he still had not looked at him. "They were heading to the gate." _

_Ronon did not let the grin he felt touch his lips. They were more likely to leave her if she was dead. They would not bother traveling with a body. "You sure it was her?"_

_"Fit the description."_

_Ronon tapped the bar and the bartender refilled his cup. "How many men?"_

_"Five armed, one in chains being pulled behind." The man paused and Ronon figured he took a drink. "They were big men, all five. One had your lady over his shoulder like a rag doll."_

_"Slavers?"_

_Ronon saw the man shake his head slightly out of the corner of his eye. "Slavers don't rough the women up that badly before they sell them." _

_Ronon contemplated those words as he eyed the amber liquid in his glass. The man moved his glass off the piece of paper and tapped it on the bar to get the bartender's attention. Ronon grabbed the scrap and slipped it into his pocket. He downed his drink quickly and sat the glass on the smooth bar. Standing, he tossed a few coins on the bar and used the opportunity to slip payment into the man's pocket._

_"I'm grateful." Ronon whispered before turning and stalking out of the bar. His hand moved automatically to the slip of paper in his pocket. He clutched it, worried it would fall out, worried it was not really there, worried this was all just one more dead end. He pulled the paper halfway out of his pocket and glanced down when he stepped into the moonlight. The first genuine smile he had allowed during this whole ordeal moved across his face. A full set of gate coordinates. He knew where Teyla was._

* * *

A/N: This doesn't really take place during any specific time period. There are no specific spoilers. I just wanted to write a long-form Teyla/Ronon fic and this one is LONG. I am about half done with it and right now, I plan to post a new chapter every Sunday and Thursday. Since this Prologue is so short, I am posting chapter one at the same time. Please review! - Brynna 


	2. Chapter 1: Asylum

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 1 - Asylum**

_She weighs nothing._ That was Ronon's only thought as he cradled Teyla in his arms, sprinting to a cave he knew was a distance back. He spared her a moment's glance and was grateful for her unconsciousness. She was a mess, barely recognizable for the contusions and cuts marring her normally flawless skin.

He ran recklessly through the dark, leaping over fallen logs and willing himself not to trip and injure her further. He jolted her in his arms as he ducked under a low branch and she moaned softy. He ignored the scraping of the branch on the side of his face, caring only that it did not touch her.

Ronon kept her solely in his mind, keeping a tight reign on the urge to run back into the village and level it for playing host to her mistreatment. He had to grit his teeth and occasionally glance at her battered face to remind him of the urgency. It made him angry to see the bruises, to see the blood seep from some of the fresher wounds, to see her tangled mess of hair and too thin form.

He slowed down slightly and skimmed the area. He would not stop completely until they were safe, until _she_ was safe but he recognized the area and knew that a cave he had scouted earlier was near. It was hard to make out the dark entrance at night but he would not risk a light out in the open. He squinted and spotted a patch of perfect darkness in the distance. He glanced down at Teyla and again quickened his pace, not even feeling his lungs burning from the effort of the half hour of dead sprinting.

The mouth of the cave would have been large enough for Teyla to walk through easily but Ronon had to duck and angle his body carefully so she did not bump the walls. The cave opened up just inside. He shifted her body higher on his arm and used the other to quickly find the flashlight he had slipped into his pack. Cradling her again, the light held in his hand under her body, he picked his way slowly through the spacious cave. He shined the light around, mindful of any rocks that could cause him to stumble. He walked through a narrow hallway-like room and moved into the larger space at the back of the cave. There were other small openings that he had examined earlier but none were large enough to get through.

He had planned this all out. If she could walk or run, they would head straight to the gate. If she couldn't, they would wait until it was light out so he could carry her more easily over the unfamiliar terrain. He hoped he was doing the right thing but he knew he could keep her safer if he could see what was coming.

Ronon held Teyla tightly and shined the flashlight around before settling her onto the ground gently. She cried out and arched her back slightly when it made contact with sharp pebbles that littered the ground. He tried to sooth her with a comforting word and a brief touch to smooth back her hair. He would make her comfortable as soon as he built a fire and scouted the area.

He combined the tasks, gathering wood as he looked around, stopping and straining his ears when he heard a branch crack. He kept his eyes squinted, looking for movement, for light, for anything that might indicate that they had been followed. He grinned briefly when he heard thunder. Rain was good. Rain would wash his tracks away. Rain would conceal the smoke from the fire.

The first drop hit his skin as he ducked into the opening of the cave. He made his way again to where Teyla lay and stacked the firewood nearby. He reached for the fire starter in his pack and lit the tender at the base of the stack. Satisfied with his handiwork, he turned again towards Teyla and suddenly felt incredibly overwhelmed. Where should he even begin?

As the fire began to illuminate injuries he hadn't seen in the darkness, he pushed himself into gear. He stripped off his long coat and folded it into a pillow, placed it under her head. Ronon upended his pack, grateful he had packed well in hopes that this would be the time he found her. He spread out the supplies, organizing as he did. The extra set of clothes that he had been carrying for her in his pack for a month were placed close to her head, along with the medkit and bottles of water.

He pulled a clean handkerchief from his pocket and wetted it slightly before moving to settle in next to her. Both yellowing and fresh bruises were revealed under the blood and grime as he wiped gently at her face. A long cut ran down the right side of her face. It was a deep and angry looking knife wound. Her lip was split and a thin cut ran down her eyebrow giving way to a very puffy left eye. He prodded the bones around the eye slightly, feeling for obvious signs of breaks. He ran his hands as gently as possible through her tangled hair and felt for bumps. Clotted blood at the base of her skull stilled his hands and he probed slightly, pulling his hand free to look for signs that the wound was still seeping blood. His hand came up clean and he left the injury alone and reached for one of his knives.

She was wearing some kind of shift. It was dirty and tattered and he was so thankful for the change of clothing. He cut the garment carefully off her, his eyes widening at the sight of her naked body underneath. He gritted his teeth and had to force himself to again remember the urgency of his task. The rest of her body made it apparent that they had gone easy on her face. She was painfully thin and the parts of her skin that weren't covered in dirt or blood seemed to be in various stages of bruising.

Ronon again felt overwhelmed. He rocked back on his heels and listened to the rain pound outside. An idea formed and he unhooked the weapons from his back and hip before stripping off his shirt and dropping it carefully among his items. He picked up a small box from his pack and tilted it until he found the bar of soap he kept with him on long missions. He slipped it in his pocket and lifted Teyla's naked form. He walked through the cave and moved into the pounding rain. It wasn't ideal but it was the fastest way he would be able to get her wounds clean.

He washed her quickly, not lingering any longer than he had to. She moaned over the sound of the rain as he stepped back into the cave and he looked down in time to see her good eye fluttering open. She winced and shut it tightly before opening it with a start. She struggled against him with a strength he was sure she shouldn't have.

"Lemme go!" She slurred.

"Teyla. Teyla, it's me!" He ducked back into the cave, away from the loud rain. "It's Ronon."

Her struggles stilled. "Ronon?" She whispered, her swollen lip slurring her normally precise speech.

"Yeah," he whispered as she raised a hand to his face gently. She squeezed her eyes shut as her hand touched his familiar features. He watched her, wondering if she would cry, certain that would be the toughest thing to handle. True to the Teyla he knew, she opened her eyes and kept the tears firmly banked.

"Clothes?" She asked, wincing now at the effort. He knew that the Athosians weren't overly shy about their bodies like the people from Earth could be but he knew it must seem strange that he was holding her like this.

"I brought some for you. They're in the cave." He angled his head toward the back of the cave as an explanation.

"Put me down?"

He looked her over briefly, glanced at her injured legs. "No."

She didn't protest as he moved through the cave. "'m cold." She slurred.

"I know. I'll get you dried off."

He walked swiftly through the cave noting her closed eyes, wondering if she was tired or slipping again into unconsciousness. He wrapped her in his thin blanket and placed her near the fire. He rubbed his hands over her, drying her off.

He pulled the medkit over and whispered her name. She opened her eyes and sighed as if wishing this were all done.

"I need to see to the wounds."

She nodded and used her right hand to help her turn over. "My back first."

He tugged the blanket to her waist and had to fight the urge to swallow and look away. Her back was simply etched with marks. Old and new whip marks criss-crossed angrily, some curving around her sides a bit.

He wanted to say something. He wanted to punch the thick stone wall behind him. Instead he applied salve to the wounds, knowing he had no bandages large enough to properly dress the torn flesh. He turned her over again gently and worked on her front, bandaging here, wrapping there. He was correct in his previous assessment, she was a mess. One leg was obviously broken, the other leg had a deep gash in the calf. She had broken ribs and shallow scratches marred her stomach and breasts. He said nothing as he grabbed her arm and popped her shoulder back into socket but apologized quickly when she cried out. He continued down her arm and found broken bones in her hand and wrist. Her right arm had a burn mark from elbow to wrist. Whoever the men were, they had been creative.

Satisfied that he had done what he could, he helped her into her clothes. She kept her eyes closed when he slipped her underthings on. He couldn't tell if she was embarrassed or closing her eyes against the pain of being moved. Her clothes hung off her thin frame as he helped her sit up. "Are you still cold?"

She shook her head carefully. "I feel better already."

"Clean clothes and a warm fire make a big difference, huh?" He made a crude sling out of his shirt and slipped it into place, gently helping her arm into a comfortable position. He broke apart a cold compress and placed it to her mouth to help the swelling there.

"Yes." She sighed. "Big difference." Her words were slurring less already but her voice still sounded tired and husky, as if she hadn't used it the entire time she had been away. She watched him pull a brush out of his belongings. "You have a brush?" He could hear the smile in her voice and suddenly his anger gave way to inexplicable sadness. It flooded through him. Something about hearing her try to make a little joke, realizing that her spirit was still intact, realizing she was probably more worried about him than herself made him want to cling to her and weep, made him want to stalk outside and kill something. Anything.

He choked it all down. "It's yours."

She looked in his eyes, knowing, as she always seemed to, exactly what he was thinking. "Thank you."

He shrugged and sat behind her, his legs at her sides so she could lean against him if she got tired. He worked the brush gently through her damp tresses and took a second to part her hair and examine the injury there.

"It is old." She whispered.

"What?" He started brushing again.

She cleared her throat. "That injury. It is from the beginning."

He laid the brush down but did not move away, content to sit close to her for a moment more. She placed a hand on his leg and squeezed gently. His hands felt big and clumsy as he adjusted her sling. "Do you think you can sit up for a while longer?"

"I will try."

He moved away from her and stood, pausing a moment to make sure she could support herself. He moved a couple of MRE's next to the fire and opened a bottle of water for her.

He moved to a darkened corner of the cave, stripping off his soaked pants and wrapping the mildly damp blanket around his waist. He spread his pants out near the fire and took the opportunity to add some more wood.

She drank her water deeply and tried to smile as he handed her the MRE. "Thank you."

He grunted and sat across from her, diving into his own meal. She ate clumsily, not accustomed to holding utensils in her left hand. When half of the meal was gone, he noticed her pushing it around, as if she was trying to disguise the amount that was left. When she felt him watching her, she looked up and smiled guiltily. "It is too much food."

It wasn't but he nodded and took it from her. "Do you feel any better?"

"It feels like a dream." She admitted as she fiddled with the bandages on her hand.

He looked in the medkit again and pulled out two bottles. Pain relievers and sleeping aides. "Take these. They'll help with the pain. We can talk tomorrow."

She took the pills from him, held them in her good hand. He felt her eyes on him as he moved to discard the empty food containers. "I did not tell them anything."

He turned to face her. "I never thought you would."

"I still do not know who they were." She sighed heavily and he moved close to her. He handed her water and gestured toward the pills, pleased to see her comply. "They asked…" She touched her aching lips and again pressed the compress there for a second. "They asked many questions."

"You fought them?"

She was starting to slump a little and he grabbed his empty pack and made a lumpy pillow for her before helping her to lie down. He helped her settle onto her side and covered her with his coat. She looked mildly surprised when he reached a hand to smooth her hair back from her face. "I fought, yes."

He knew the fighting had made things worse for her but he understood. Fighting allowed her to keep her spirit, her identity. "I looked for you."

She waited, silently and for a moment he wondered if she had drifted to sleep. He glanced down and saw her staring at him calmly. "We all did at first but, after a time…"

"I understand."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry that we got separated."

Her brow furrowed as if trying to remember how it had actually all happened. "It was not your fault."

Ronon laid down on his back, listening to the sounds of the rain. "I left the team." He swallowed and turned on his side to face her. "A temporary leave."

"I will be forever in your debt." Teyla whispered wishing she could move to comfort him. Instead she moved her good arm out from under her and held it out to him. He looked at her briefly, considering the gesture. With a nearly imperceptible little hitch in his breathing, he covered her small hand with his large one.

He watched her eyes start to droop. "Tomorrow, we can go home."

"Home." She whispered softly. Her small hand turned over in his and gripped his fingers as sleep claimed her.

* * *

Note: Please review! New chapter on Thursday! - Brynna 


	3. Chapter 2: Serenity

Disclaimer: If I owned it, it wouldn't be fanfiction.

**Chapter 2 - Serenity**

_Ronon crouched in the bushes, watching the little village silently. He had been watching all day and the night before. He moved only to change his vantage point. _

_He knew where she was at._

_He stared at the little building. It was a shed, an outer farm building that looked as if it would fall apart any minute. Ronon unconsciously pulled the scrap of paper with the gate coordinates from his pocket, folding and unfolding it on its well-worn lines._

_In the last couple of days that tiny slip of paper had become his life line to her. It was his map, his little guarantee that he was finally close. _

_He had felt like he was running again while he searched for her. He wasn't running away from something eternally persistent. Instead, he was running toward something that kept moving, just out of grasp, but it was running all the same._

_He was trying to be smart, trying to get the lay of the land before charging in, all weapons set to kill as per his normal instinct. Teyla's life was at stake and that meant everything to him._

_His fingers continued working over the paper as he glanced at the sun, judging how long he had before nightfall when he could slip quietly into the village. He rocked on his heels, his eyes staring hard at the shed._

_Ronon had one bad moment the night before. He was closer to the building by several yards and he watched as one man left and another went in. He was observing the guard changing, trying to figure out the best time to make his move. The man who took the second watch was in the little building for no more than ten minutes when he heard her cry out. It was just one quick pained sound that had him up on his feet, his hand gripping his gun tightly._

_It was unmistakably Teyla and the knowledge that she was definitely alive forced him to sit down and continue his observations. He would not fail her now._

_Ronon glanced at the sky again. He would move in during that man's shift. If he had to kill a man, might as well be one he knew was guilty._

* * *

_He made quick work of the man guarding her and without pausing to check her condition, he cut off her bindings and scooped her up easily._

_As he made his way into the woods, he never paused to look back. He never imagined it would be so easy, getting her out. The hunt for her had been impossible at times. He would not have been satisfied until he at least saw a body but he would be lying if he said he was not starting to lose hope._

_Ronon could tell she was unconscious but as he set off into a sprint, he didn't contemplate anything else. She was safe, she was in his arms. Everything would be fine._

* * *

Ronon woke the second the rain stopped. The storm seemed to leave as quickly as it had come in and the rain did not stop gradually, it was if someone had flipped a switch.

He was almost afraid to open his eyes. He had been simply obsessed with finding her since the moment she disappeared. Every movement he made had been carefully calculated to move himself closer to her. He had gone to sleep each night, lamenting the fact that there had not been enough hours in his day to find her and he woke up in the morning, realizing that once again, she had probably slipped just beyond his grasp.

So when he woke in the cave, to sudden silence, he wondered if the whole thing had been a dream. It didn't matter that he could feel her pressed against him. He had thought he had felt that before. It didn't matter that her fingers were twined through his. That was a memory he had replayed a hundred times. His heart sped up and he opened his eyes carefully, preparing himself for the disappointment he had felt so many times.

He had to blink to be sure she was really there. He chided himself silently for being silly and lay there, taking a moment to simply take her in. To take all this in. He had succeeded. She was safe.

Even before the Athosians had asked him to find her, he knew he was going to do whatever it took to track her down. It wasn't just that he felt responsible for her disappearance and it wasn't just that he had feelings for her that awakened something in him that had been dormant for years. It was that he depended on her. He depended on seeing her smile at him when he walked into a room. He depended on hearing her say his name in a warning tone when he got out of line. He depended on her staring at him with that challenging look in her eyes when they sparred. He counted on these things; needed them for Atlantis to feel like home.

When Dr. Weir had finally decided to call off the search for Teyla, he honestly tried to get used to life without her. The first mission they went on, they all seemed to be looking in shadows, listening hard to the whispers. Maybe they'd find her on accident. Maybe she'd be waiting for them at the gate, wondering how they were faring in her absence. He made up his mind during that mission. He could set out on his own. He could exhaust all leads without military approval. John seemed relieved with his decision, as if he was about to ask Ronon to do it anyway.

The Athosians simply wanted to give her a proper funeral ceremony. They petitioned Weir to keep searching but she was forced to deny their request. They had already searched for so long without so much as a lead. She couldn't justify continuing what had become something of a needle in a haystack situation.

They turned to Ronon then. He had visited them many times with Teyla and they knew he was resourceful, tenacious. He let them think it was their idea. He pretended he was doing it for them when all the time, his bag was packed. Her clothes and hair brush tucked safely inside.

Ronon would go back to Atlantis to re-supply or grab a warm meal and shower after some trail had lead to another dead end. John accompanied him a couple of times. His military obligations prevented him from going regularly but when he had the Atlantis version of shore leave or even just an afternoon and evening off, he was out with Ronon. He was always searching for his sparring partner, for the missing person of his team he had always felt intrinsically responsible for. They never talked about whether she was dead or alive. They never talked about what could be happening to her if she _was_ alive. They just searched. Their hope ebbed and flowed with each lead and dead end. It was exhausting.

And now here she was laying a breath away. He had scooted closer to her in sleep and she had leaned into his warmth, taking some of the weight off her side. She was curled into herself, her legs drawn up against his. Ronon reached over and pushed her hair out of her face. He ran his finger near the deep gash in her cheek and wondered how surprised she would look if he did this while she was awake.

He knew he needed to get up, needed to start getting ready for the trip to the gate but he couldn't seem to draw his eyes away. He so rarely allowed himself to be frivolous, to simply look when he wanted to look or touch when he wanted to touch. He always felt that she was too perfect for him, too pure and good-hearted for a man that had done some of the things he had done. And yet, he could be more himself around her than anyone else alive. She listened when he talked, she soothed him when he got upset, she tolerated his bad moods, and she trusted him when no one else would.

Ronon glanced at the embers of the fire and started to move away from her. He carefully shifted from under her and started to pull his hand away. She woke, suddenly with a choking gasp and her hand gripped his tighter, startling him and making him immediately apologize for whatever he did that distressed her.

"Ronon?" She whispered, her voice more hoarse than the night before.

"Yeah. You can keep sleeping. I'm going to get everything ready to go."

The sleeping pills were still doing their job and she was asleep before he finished his sentence and when he felt her hand go limp, he untwined their fingers slowly, as carefully as he could muster. He stood and looked her over just a second more before grabbing his pants and moving to tend to his morning routine.

* * *

The air was still damp outside of the cave and the sky showed another storm heavy on the horizon. They would need to get going if they were going to make it to the gate before the rain started again. He had been to three villages on the planet and he had carefully plotted a path back to the gate that would avoid all of them. It would take a bit of extra time to pick his way through the woods but it was worth it. If they could avoid people and open spaces, he felt he could maybe get her to Atlantis without having to kill anyone else.

Ronon climbed nimbly up the rock outcropping that made up one side of the cave and crouched in the thick brush on top. He was high enough to see, unobstructed for nearly a mile. The brush around him was still. He looked in the direction of the Stargate and saw no signs of danger. He glanced at the sky again, wishing the clouds would part to give him a better guess at the time.

He glanced in the direction of one of the villages and saw that it too was still. He figured it must be early morning and he was thankful again for their good fortune. He had taken Teyla during the last guard switch of the night, he figured they still had time before the guard switched again and they noticed her missing.

Ronon moved carefully down the rocks and moved through the cave. He packed his bag, kicked dirt on the remnants of the fire, and strapped on his various weapons. He turned then to Teyla who was still huddled under his coat, awake now and peering at him through the eye she was able to open.

"I have to lift you now. I am going to give you extra pain medicine."

She nodded slightly and bit her lip. He had been injured enough times to know that when healing began, it always felt much worse before it could feel any better. He also knew that now that she was fully awake, being moved would hurt like hell.

Ronon considered the other packet of pills in his medkit. "Do you want sleeping pills too? It might be easier."

She shook her head slightly and started to try to push herself up. He moved to help her, reaching for the water she had left nearby. She moaned as she moved her aching body. He pressed the pills into her hand, wanting to take the edge off the pain for her as quickly as possible.

She glanced at her hand briefly, possibly to ensure that he had not slipped her a sleeping pill despite her wishes. She slumped against him when she was done and he shifted his coat around her shoulders as her teeth chattered slightly. Shock, fatigue, hunger, dehydration, and pain had probably mixed to cause a slight fever.

She spoke through her chattering. "Hurts worse…today."

He hooked his pack over his shoulders and stood, her body cradled in his arms. Her wail of pain ended on a moan. He gentled his voice for her. Something he rarely ever had the foresight to do. "In a few hours we'll be in Atlantis." She shifted in his arms to try and get more comfortable. "You'll have a warm bed." She buried her head against his chest and he continued to sooth, feeling himself uncharacteristically start to ramble. "Dr. Beckett can fuss over you; Dr. McKay can annoy you. You can see your people and Sheppard and Dr. Weir. Just a few hours more."

He moved when he felt her nod against his chest, ignoring the wetness he felt on his bare skin. Teyla would never want him to see her cry.

* * *

Note: Thanks for the reviews guys! I appreciate the encouragement and kind words. New chapter will be up on Sunday! Please review. - Brynna 


	4. Chapter 3: Flight

Disclaimer: I know this will come as a shock, but I don't own Stargate: Atlantis.

**Chapter 3 - Flight**

"_Any leads?" Elizabeth studied Ronon's tired face and slumped form._

_He scrubbed a hand across his face and kept his head down, pushed himself forward in his chair. "I have some names."_

_Elizabeth glanced at John. "Ronon," she said slowly, gently. "It's been nearly a month, perhaps –" _

"_I'm not giving up," he said quickly. "I feel like I'm getting closer."_

_Elizabeth nodded, her mouth set in a grim line. "How long will you stay?"_

"_Just long enough to get some rest and some food."_

"_Well, of course you can have whatever you need."_

_He tried for a small smile but it only made Elizabeth want to sigh, sadly. "Just my bed."_

_John cleared his throat. "I'll be going with Ronon for a couple of days."_

_Elizabeth crossed her arms. "Be sure to keep in contact."_

_Rodney had been uncharacteristically quiet during the meeting but he finally cleared his throat and spoke up. "As always, if you need anything…" He let his statement trail off. He had said it before, had even used two of his days off to go out with Ronon and John to search. He wanted to know if Teyla was alright just as much as everyone else did. The loss of Ford had been difficult for the whole team but the disappearance of Teyla had been nearly devastating. It wasn't just the loss of her. That was a risk they all took every time they stepped through the gate. It was the mystery. The fact that they had no idea what happened to her, how she died if she really was dead, where she was taken if she was alive. _

_And the loss of Teyla meant the loss of Ronon. Half of their team was gone. The temporary replacements John had assigned just weren't the same._

_Elizabeth pulled John aside after she ended the meeting. "You have to start convincing him to make some kind of a deadline."_

_John dropped back into the chair he had just vacated. "What do you want me to do? He promised the Athosians. He isn't just going to break that promise."_

"_But this…obsession is consuming him."_

_John spread his hands. "Ronon has a lot of loyalty when it comes to Teyla, you know that. He feels guilty that she got separated from him in the first place. I really don't know what I could say to him that would change any of that."_

"_I am afraid we are going to lose him too."_

"_That's a risk we take when we add natives to our teams. They are not military. They can make their own choices to go." He paused for a second. "Honestly, Elizabeth? If I could, I would be doing the same thing. Teyla is my team member. She is my responsibility."_

_Elizabeth watched his eyes as they met hers boldly, challenging her to tell him differently. She gentled her voice. "John–"_

"_Do you ever think," he interrupted, "About what is happening to her if she is alive?"_

_She winced. She thought about it every time Teyla crept into her mind. She didn't think the men could fully appreciate the fact that Teyla was really her only female friend. "I do. Of course."_

"_Ronon probably thinks about it ten times more than you, a hundred times more. How can I ask him to give up?"_

"_But when does it end?"_

_John stood. "When he finds her."_

_She watched as he started to leave. "And if he never does?"_

_He had a hand on the door frame and his back to her before he answered. "Then it doesn't end."_

* * *

The trip through the dense woods was arduous. More than once, Ronon had to deposit Telyla on a tree stump or against a tree and climb to be sure he was headed in the right direction. Without the adrenaline he had felt the night before to spur him on, he moved slower, more carefully. He was cautious of jostling Teyla and he was relieved when she fell asleep or passed out again around midday.

They got rained on, briefly in the early afternoon but he welcomed the cool shower on his aching muscles. As little as she weighed, hours of holding her was starting to strain his shoulders and arms.

He started counting his steps to take his mind off the distance and fatigue. The previous night was the first in weeks that he had slept peacefully and it had only lasted for a few short hours. The exhaustion that had been building was catching up rapidly and counting his steps helped to keep him alert. On many missions, Ronon had wished it was just he and Teyla. They were both capable and strong and neither had the frustrating urge to talk everything to death like the people from Earth did. Just now, though, he would willingly put up with a hundred talkative denizens of Earth if that's what it took to give him a bit of a reprieve.

Teyla's moaning and occasional squirming also spurred him on. It was still jarring to look at her face, to hear her gasp when he would pull the coat tighter around her form.

It was nearly sundown when Ronon finally got to the edge of the dense woods. The air was thick with moisture and he could tell that the storm they had been able to stay ahead of all day was now quickly moving in. Ronon moved to a tall tree and squatted, his arms on fire.

"How much longer?" Teyla mumbled, her eyes drooping with achy fatigue.

Ronon deposited her among the tree roots, propping her carefully and fussing with her makeshift sling. "I can see the gate from here."

Teyla smiled slightly and opened her eye fully. "Why are we stopping?"

"I'm going to go make sure the area is safe and dial the gate."

Teyla started to shift herself weakly. "Take your coat."

He glanced at his bare chest and leaned forward to help slip it off of her. He could use the added protection if he ran into a fight. He pulled a knife from his boot and pressed it into her good hand as he took the coat. "Just in case."

He took water from his pack and drank heavily before recapping it and settling it next to her. Ronon drew his gun and set his pack on the ground. He offered her what he hoped was a reassuring half smile and ran off toward the gate.

* * *

Ronon found himself squinting in the low light of the clearing. Even though it was already getting dark, it was much brighter without the canopy of trees to shield the sun. He stalked toward the gate slowly, all of his senses on full alert, waiting for what he figured was inevitable.

It was a calculated risk, taking a longer way to the gate but it also meant that he could knowingly walk into a fight. Should it come down to it, Teyla was close enough to dial the gate herself and get through it. He tightened his grip on his gun and moved close to the gate. A sound to his left caught his attention and he lowered his head, peered through his hair.

Teyla was only a dozen yards away and if she was watching, she would notice Ronon's small movement and would be scanning the brush on the other side of the clearing. Ronon turned to the gate, positioned himself so that the stone pedestals near the gate would shield him. He shifted his gun into one hand while his other lifted to dial the coordinates. His hand hovered over the keys, his eyes focused on the slight movement in the line of trees. Confident in the fact that Teyla was watching, he casually scratched his face with three fingers, tilted his gun just slightly in the direction of the movement. An easy signal to those who would look for it and she would. _Three men, just there._

It was habit, more than anything. Keep your allies informed, he had been taught. Even though she could not help, it could be beneficial for her to know the situation. Ronon felt his sword against his back, the weight of the gun in his hand. He glanced briefly in the direction of Teyla, wondered if she was watching. He would have to draw the men out before he dialed the gate.

He backed up slowly until he was back to the tree line. Teyla had maneuvered herself around so that she could watch Ronon. The blade of the knife he had given her was gripped tightly between the pad of her thumb and the side of her index finger. She was prepared to throw the knife if he needed help.

He sidled up next to her, contemplated scolding her for possibly upsetting her injuries. He didn't, of course. He couldn't very well scold her for doing something he would do.

"Three?" Teyla asked.

Ronon nodded. "They have the trees for cover." He glanced at her. "Ideas?"

Teyla gave him a half smile and tried for a sideways look. "Are you not the one who usually shoots first, thinks later?"

He returned her smile and reached over to adjust her sling. "Normally I don't care."

"You could bring me with you." He remained silent, waiting for her to explain. "It is possible that they do not realize that you are the man who took me from them."

Ronon glanced into the clearing. He wished they would just walk into the opening so he could go take care of them. "It's dangerous. I can't hold you and my gun."

Teyla tapped an uninjured finger gently on her leg. "They may not want to fight. They may be waiting for you to dial Atlantis."

"So they might not come out?"

Knowing he wasn't expecting an answer, Teyla allowed her eyes to shut and leaned her head against the tree.

"You okay?"

She kept her eyes shut and murmured slowly. "The pain makes my head foggy. It is hard to stay awake." Her breathing began to even. "Wish I was somewhere else."

An idea clicked into Ronon's head. He pulled a piece of paper from his coat pocket and unfolded it. It was a list of the gate coordinates to every place he had visited while trying to find Teyla. He scanned the list with his finger, looking for a place that might serve his purpose. Finding the right coordinates, he leaned forward and scooped Teyla up, apologizing to her when she groaned in pain. He rushed toward the gate, paused before dialing to see if the men would attack. When they did not, he dialed the coordinates, stood clear, and stepped through.

* * *

It was night time on the planet he had chosen and the second he stepped through, he deposited Teyla, who was now unconscious, just out of the way. When he turned back, the first of the men was walking through, gun raised.

"Idiot." Ronon murmured as he drew his gun and shot the man while striding forward, ready for the next two. The next man did not disappoint. He followed through moments later. Ronon grabbed him before he even had a chance to look around and he twisted the man into a headlock. If the third man came through, Ronon had only to apply a bit of pressure to break the man's neck.

He watched the gate until it closed. The third man did not follow. Ronon ignored the man's pleas as he raised the gun and slammed it onto the man's head just hard enough to render him unconscious.

Ronon let him drop to the ground and he moved to dial the gate. He was finally bringing Teyla home.

* * *

To say that the inhabitants of Atlantis were surprised when Ronon strode through the gate with an unconscious Teyla in his arms would be an understatement. They rushed forward. Shouts went out for help from the medical staff. Hands tried to pull Teyla from Ronon's strong grasp but he held tight.

He told someone, some man in some uniform to go back and get the man he had knocked out. He couldn't be sure if they answered, couldn't be sure if anyone heard him or listened. He was starting to feel a bit woozy himself. Ronon glanced down, saw the blood running down his bare chest and soaking into his jacket. He glanced at Teyla as he felt his knees buckle. Ronon finally let the hands pull her away from him as he hit the ground.

* * *

Note: I have almost all of about 14 chapters written but I wrote those italicized flashbacks separately and I had a hell of a time deciding which flashback to start this chapter with. Just felt the need to mention that. Hope it worked well. New chapter will be up on Wednesday of this week since I will be traveling on Thursday. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and who is about to review. I appreciate it tons! -Brynna 


	5. Chapter 4: 347

Disclaimer: I don't own SGA.

**Chapter 4 - 347**

_She had begun a kind of a rating system. She had needed something to keep her mind alert, to keep from thinking about her various aches and pains. Her free time was spent thinking of other things. She thought of hunger, of escape, of leaving messages for whoever might still be looking for her. Teyla thought of her teammates and her people, of her future and her past. She tried to meditate but it was hard to clear her mind. She slept a lot but she forced herself to sleep lightly to avoid being kicked awake. A kick was three points._

_As soon as the men came to her, the rating started. A slap was one point, a punch was two, a kick, three. If one of the men taunted or threatened her, she usually did not count it unless the threat actually frightened her. A grope or intimate caress was four points, a blow that drew blood was five. A full torture session could warrant anywhere from six to twenty points based on the severity. _

_She also took points away. When they brought food but did not hurt her, she subtracted five points. The few times they had allowed her to clean herself up or sleep unbound, she had also taken off a few points._

_When she began the game, she had hoped that by the end of her ordeal, the points would be in the negative, that they would realize she would not give information and would mostly leave her alone. She was wrong, of course. The men who had captured her initially had been rough and dumb. They had asked her questions and hit her or threatened her but they hit and threatened her whether she answered or not. She soon learned though that they were just the muscle._

_Some men she had never seen before met them on the third planet they traveled to. She was immediately lead away to her first real torture session. These men knew about incentive. They understood that pain could make a person talk. The right kind of pain, the right kind of humiliation could make a grown man cry out for his mother and these men seemed determined to find just the right kind of pain for her._

_Teyla had other games she played in her mind during torture sessions. She did not beg or cry, in fact, she had imagined that her mind was segmented, that there were doors and walls. The doors had giant locks and chains and the key to those locks was held in a different part of her brain. She locked away the part that felt pain behind one door, she locked away the part that let her speak behind another, and her pride and dignity were kept behind a third. She would keep that one locked as long as it took. She would emerge from this ordeal with those two items still firmly intact._

_She cried out once, the first time the whip had bit into the flesh of her back. They were asking questions but she did not hear them, she was concentrating on adding more chains to the door that locked her voice away, the door that was threatening to burst._

_When she was returned to her room or cell or wherever they were keeping her, she would carefully unlock the first door. She would allow the pain to return so she could assess her injuries and add points to the ever increasing number. _

_The game was insane. The game kept her sane._

_The final tally was 347._

* * *

Teyla woke to dull, throbbing pain. Her mouth was completely dry and her head felt as if it weighed a ton. She could feel tubes in her nose and could hear a low beeping from somewhere near her head. Her whole body was aching and she already felt like she wanted to go back to sleep. Instead, she opened her eyes and noted that the one that had been swollen shut now opened slightly.

The lights were dim but she could tell she was in a hospital or an infirmary. She allowed her eyes to focus and realized she was in the infirmary on Atlantis. She squeezed her eyes shut again and let relief wash over her. She hoped she wasn't dreaming, hoped this meant that her whole ordeal was finally over. She tried to move her hand but found that it was bound to her body in some kind of sling. She lifted her head slightly and saw that the blankets were preventing her from seeing her injuries.

Teyla dropped her head to her pillow and closed her eyes when the dull pain turned sharp. She breathed through it, waited for it to pass. When it did, she lifted her head again, looked to her right, then her left.

"I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up." Ronon was lying in bed. He looked pale but he was smiling over at her. He was in the curtained partition next to hers but the curtain had been drawn aside.

"Ronon." She breathed his name and swallowed, tried to relieve her dry throat.

"I've called the doc, he'll be here soon."

As if on cue, Dr. Beckett pushed aside the curtain and nearly sprinted over to Teyla's bedside. If she wasn't so sure it would hurt, Teyla would have cried with joy over seeing another familiar face.

"Dr. Beckett." Teyla managed.

"Let me get you some water." His own voice had a bit of a rough edge to it. He had worked tirelessly to repair her injuries, to bring her the rest of the way back. Ronon had brought her as far as he could, the rest had been in his hands.

He helped her drink and then gently removed the tube from her nose. "How is your pain?"

"Better."

"But still present?"

She tried to nod, but a wince answered for her. He moved to the source of the beeping and pushed a button. Nearly instantly, the pain lessened. Dr. Beckett moved back to her bedside and pulled down the covers. Teyla saw that one arm was indeed lashed to her body in a sling. Her shoulder was packed with bandages. Her other arm was bandaged and was home to an IV but at least she could move the arm and hand. She was wearing some kind of hospital gown but she felt clean and warm.

"My stomach hurts."

"You had some internal injuries. We had to perform surgery." Dr. Beckett touched her bandaged hand that was being pressed to her body by the restrictive sling. "Now some of these fingers were broken and have been splinted but I want you to try to move the others."

Teyla concentrated on her fingers and pushed them against Dr. Beckett's hand. Seemingly satisfied, he moved to her legs, had her wiggle her toes. He sounded relieved when he told her that she was doing well. He probed gently at a spot on her leg before covering her again. He guided her good hand to the buttons on the bedside, showing her how to call him, how to work the bed.

Before he stepped away, he leaned over, brushed her bangs off her face. "I am so glad you are home."

She almost did cry then but instead she settled for a shuddering sigh and a whispered thank you.

He stopped at Ronon's bed before he left but Teyla was still trying to dam the flood of tears threatening to break free. She opened her eyes as Dr. Beckett pulled the curtain to step out. He turned back. "I almost forgot. Colonel Sheppard, Dr. Weir, and Dr. McKay asked me to call them as soon as you were awake. Are you up to seeing them?"

"Yes, please." Teyla said slowly, her throat still dry and her lip still swollen.

Dr. Beckett nodded. "But only for five minutes. We don't want to overdo it right when you wake."

He stepped out then and Teyla glanced over to Ronon. "What happened to you?"

"I got shot."

"You alright?"

"Yeah."

"You brought me back." She closed her eyes and swallowed.

"Said I would." His voice rumbled.

"I will never be able to repay you."

He started to answer but she swallowed and spoke again. "Ronon, how long was I gone?"

"Couple of months." She noticed that his breathing was a little bit shallow. "We've been back here for a few days though."

She listened to his breathing, to the low beeping from the machines attached to each of them. "You sure you are alright?" Her voice sounded tired to her own ears

"You shouldn't worry about me."

"I am sorry you got hurt."

She heard a low rumble in his throat and she turned her head to look into his eyes. "Sometimes it's worth it." He leveled his gaze, showed her that he meant it, even though he never said much of anything that he didn't mean.

She wanted to thank him again but she thought that might make him angry. "Where were you shot?"

"Shoulder, leg. My side was grazed."

"I do not remember."

Ronon shrugged. "It happened pretty quickly."

Her eyes were starting to droop but she was fighting it. She wanted to see her friends. "I wish it had been easier."

"Getting you back here?"

"Yes."

He smiled, tried for charming. "Teyla, that was the easy part."

She started to answer, started to thank him in spite of the fact that she knew it would annoy him. He would never understand how much it meant, him coming for her. No words were adequate for how grateful she was. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, when the curtain was pulled aside and three familiar figures stepped through.

* * *

Note: Thanks for the reviews! New chapter on Sunday. Happy Thanksgiving! -Brynna 


	6. Chapter 5: Reunion

Disclaimer: Still don't own it.

A/N: Sorry this is late. Work is crazy. And then the uploader thingy wouldn't work.

**Chapter 5 – Reunion**

_Elizabeth couldn't think of many things in her life that had been harder than telling the Athosians that they had given up the search for Teyla. They had looked to her for answers and she simply had none to give._

_She had kept it businesslike as she explained the situation. She told them that they had already searched so long and they simply had no direction for where else to look. What she wanted to say was that she missed her friend. She wanted to say that she was sorry that she had skipped out on their weekly lunch the last time she saw Teyla. She wanted to say that she wished she had never spent that day finalizing the mission agenda for the diplomatic mission that was to be Teyla's last._

_Instead she simply apologized for their loss, never letting her own grief show through on her features. It hadn't been the easiest road to friendship for her and Teyla but once they each realized that they were missing a good female friend in their lives, they came together naturally._

_They started by having lunch together one Sunday and that one lunch had turned into a standing weekly appointment. They were never going to be the kind of women who giggled about the men in their lives and then braided each other's hair. They discussed the pressures of leadership, the challenges of being taken seriously as a woman, and yes, occasionally, they discussed the men in their lives._

_A few weeks after Teyla's disappearance, Elizabeth had agreed to fill in for one of the players at ladies poker night. She had always been too busy to go but she thought that maybe she might find something there to fill the void Teyla had left._

_As Elizabeth sat there and listened to the women bawdily discuss the best looking men in Atlantis and gossip wildly about each of them, she started really missing her friend. She excused herself from the table when one of them brought up how hot Ronon was._

_She strolled through the halls of the city. She felt very protective of Ronon now that Teyla was gone. She had always thought that something was happening between those two and just because Teyla was gone didn't mean he was up for grabs, so to speak._

_Elizabeth let her fingers trail along the walls before she realized what she was doing and locked her hands behind her back. She straightened her posture as she walked, nodding to people as she passed. She was walking aimlessly but somehow, she found herself in front of Teyla's door._

_She unclasped her hands, let her body lose some of its rigid bearing. She looked around and upon noticing that no one was in the corridor, she let herself in._

_The room was untouched, still exactly as Teyla had left it on that day. It wasn't like they needed space in the vast city. She knew that eventually they would need to do something with all of Teyla's stuff but for now it felt right to leave things alone._

_Elizabeth sat on her bed and looked around. It was a mixture of modern Atlantis and slightly primitive Athosian. Teyla was tidy and nothing was out of place. Her bathroom door was shut but Elizabeth knew that if she went in, it too would be neat._

_She gripped the edge of the bed and lowered her head. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even hear the door slide open._

"_Hey."_

_She turned back to see John standing there, looking a little uncertain. "Hey."_

"_I was looking for you."_

"_I was playing poker." She turned again to stare at the empty room._

"_In here?" He had a hint of humor in his voice but she simply was in no mood for it._

"_No, John."_

_She was silent as she heard him move to sit near her. He just sat with her for a moment before finally breaking the silence. "Isn't it strange how quiet Atlantis feels without her?"_

_She nodded. "Especially since she didn't talk much." Elizabeth shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "How was the mission?"_

"_Weird. Ronon's jumping out of his skin."_

"_He isn't the only one."_

"_I think he is going to go off alone to search."_

_Elizabeth looked at John, startled. "Has he asked?"_

"_No, but he can't go on like this."_

_She nodded, her mouth set in a grim line and for the first time, she allowed herself to say what she had been thinking all along. "I miss her."_

* * *

Elizabeth was actually nervous as she stepped through the curtain surrounding Teyla and Ronon's beds. They had been briefed, of course, on the conditions of the two by Dr. Beckett. "Teyla looks bad." He had said bluntly, not bothering to sugarcoat things. "It'll be a bit of a shock."

He was right. She plastered on a cheery face as she drew the curtain and focused first on Ronon's pale, but happy face. He was smiling, just lying in bed, smiling. It was the strangest thing to see him look so pleased. He didn't look great but she had definitely seen him looking worse. She could see bandages peaking out of his hospital gown but he looked well rested and like he was on the mend.

She let her eyes move to Teyla as she felt John and Rodney brush by. She heard John cheerfully exclaim, "Well if it isn't the big hero and the damsel in distress." Elizabeth would usually roll her eyes at such a comment but she was too busy taking in the sight of Teyla. She looked like a stranger. Elizabeth could have walked right by the bed and never have even known it was her friend in that bed. She choked down a gasp and checked to make sure her cheerful expression was still in place as she heard Rodney chatter, "Damsel formerly in distress. She is safe now." Teyla laughed a little at something John said quietly and the sound was a bit shocking. Teyla looked broken, but she was so very strong. It was easy to forget how strong sometimes.

"Dr. Weir." She said suddenly, her eyes moving from John to Elizabeth. John moved away and Elizabeth took her spot.

"Teyla." She searched for something to say to her, some words that would be adequate. When none could be found, she settled simply for, "We missed you."

Teyla blinked slowly and tiredly. She gripped Elizabeth's hand a little tighter. "Thank you for letting Ronon find me."

Elizabeth gave a watery smile. "I would have done so much more if I could."

"I suppose you will want to be briefed on exactly what happened."

Dr. Weir shook her head quickly. "No, no. You focus on getting well. We'll deal with the rest when you are up to it."

"Everything going alright with you guys?" Teyla asked the group, blinking tiredly.

Elizabeth glanced at John. It was so like Teyla to worry about everyone else first. His jaw clenched in anger or sadness, she couldn't tell but he betrayed his expression with a cheerful voice. "Better now. This place has seemed empty without the two of you."

Rodney spoke up then, his voice a bit nervous. "Uh, Teyla. I was going to the mainland tomorrow anyway so I thought I'd let your people know that you were back. Is there anything you need or anything you wanted me to say or…anything?"

She smiled weakly. "Thank you Rodney. Just tell them that I will be fine and that I will visit when I am able."

He nodded and touched her shoulder rather awkwardly. He remembered then that there was another patient in the room. "What about you Ronon? Anything from the mainland?"

"I'm fine. Thanks."

Dr. Beckett came in then to announce that time was up. Rodney touched Teyla again and walked out. John smoothed back her hair and smiled. "He wasn't going to be on the mainland tomorrow. He was really worried about you. We all were." With a promise to visit her as soon as he was allowed to, he moved to the curtain and waited for Elizabeth.

"I am going to try to get Dr. Beckett to let me visit again later on." She leaned down and pressed her cheek to Teyla's. "For the record, I would never have been able to stop Ronon from coming for you." She whispered before standing, bidding Ronon farewell and leaving with John.

* * *

When Elizabeth came back to the infirmary later the same day, the room was dark. Her eyes had to adjust to the low lights as she pulled a chair over to Teyla's bed and dropped her chin in her hands. Teyla was asleep, her brow creased in pain or concentration beneath the bandages. The green and red lights from the machines attached to her were softly illuminating her form.

She had asked Dr. Beckett if she could just sit with Teyla while Ronon was having a small surgery. He had agreed as long as she promised not to be too tiring. She didn't even know why it was so important for her to be alone with Teyla. She had about a million things she could be doing and yet, sitting in silence next to a hospital bed seemed to be the only thing she actually wanted to do.

Elizabeth listened to the steady beeping that was monitoring her friend's heart and other vitals. She sighed and rubbed at her forehead, let her head rest tiredly in her hand.

"Elizabeth?" She heard from a weak sounding voice.

"Hey." Elizabeth lifted her head with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "Just sore?"

Teyla moved her hand clumsily over the buttons on her bed so that she could sit up a little more. "Whatever Dr. Beckett gave me for the pain is working quite well."

Elizabeth watched Teyla try to shift weakly in the bed, looking for a more comfortable position. "Do you need anything?"

"No, I am fine." It was comforting to Elizabeth that her voice was just a serene as she had remembered it.

"I missed you, Teyla." She slid her cool hand into Teyla's warm one. She didn't give Teyla a chance to respond before she sucked in a breath and let out what she had wanted to say from the moment Teyla and Ronon had come through the gate. "I am sorry."

"For what?" Teyla's grip tightened on Elizabeth's hand.

"It was my call, ending the search for you." She swallowed, glanced at the bandage on the hand she was holding. "We searched for weeks and just…never found any leads or real clues. We got some intel on the Wraith and had to refocus our efforts."

She was silent then, her gaze meeting Teyla's boldly. A lesser person would have their head lowered in shame. "We all thought you were dead. I am sorry."

"You let Ronon leave the team?" Elizabeth nodded. "You gave him the resources to find me?" Another nod. "Then it does not seem like you ever really called off the search."

Elizabeth smiled. "You shouldn't be the one trying to make me feel better."

Teyla smiled back at her. "That is what friends do for each other."

Elizabeth sat back in her chair, drew her knees up. "Hey, do you think we can get Ronon out of here on Sundays?"

Teyla laughed a little. "I think we should try."

* * *

Note: Well, this was a little different in that it wasn't strictly Teyla and Ronon's voice but I like Elizabeth and wanted to do a chapter for her. I know that Torri Higginson and Rachel Luttrell are friends in real life and that they always thought their characters should have more scenes together and I always thought that dynamic could be an interesting one. Anyway, thanks, as always for the reviews! New chapter on Thursday (and this one has one of my favorite flashbacks). 


	7. Chapter 6: Affinity

Disclaimer: Fanfiction means I'm just a fan.

**Chapter 6 - Affinity**

_He watched her throw back her head and laugh. It was a beautiful sound that he didn't hear nearly enough. Even though he had no idea what they were talking about, his lips still curved. He leaned against the doorway, the slight smile still imprinted across his features._

_Teyla turned and offered him a genuine smile. She always had a smile for him. Even when they first met, when he had a gun leveled at her head, she smiled at him. He tilted his head, a signal he knew she would recognize and as he expected, she excused herself and moved to join him. He led her out of the room._

"_Wanna spar?" He asked, his voice gravelly._

_She smiled down at her feet as they walked through the halls. "We have a briefing in half an hour."_

"_Oh." He said evenly._

"_Bored?"_

_He grunted his assent and they walked on silently. They reached a glass door at the end of a hallway and Teyla started to turn. He grabbed her wrist loosely and tugged her through the door and onto the balcony. She followed without protest._

_

* * *

__Ronon tucked his thumbs loosely in the pockets of his pants as he strolled slowly to the railing. His face was tilted up toward the sun and he breathed deeply. She watched him out of the corner of her eye, not wanting to get caught staring. A serene smiled inched across his face as the sun warmed him._

_There were times, when they were out on a mission or when they were sparring, when he was pure animal. But there were these other times, times he chose to let her see, where he was very much a man._

_She wrapped her hands around the railing next to him and leaned forward to look at the sea below. "It is so beautiful here." She breathed out._

"_Look out there." He pointed into the distance._

"_Where?" She followed his gaze with her own._

"_There. See the fish?"_

_She shook her head, squinted her eyes. "No, I -" The words died on her lips as he moved behind her, one hand settling on the bare skin at the small of her back, the other pointing over her shoulder._

"_See? Where the birds are? The fish are jumping."_

_She did see, huge silver fish, gleaming in the sun as they leapt in the gentle waves. She smiled and turned to say something but again the words died on her lips. He was a breath away. His expression had turned serious and the hand that was pointing was now resting on the railing next to her. The one at the small of her back was pressing gently, drawing her, the final bit of distance, to him._

_He opened his mouth, as if to speak but instead, she saw determination cross his features and he swallowed whatever he was about to say as he dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers._

_It was gentler than she would have thought him capable. Just a whisper, a brief taste._

_She was wide-eyed with surprise when he pulled away to gauge her reaction but as she saw the uncertainty play quickly across his face, she stood on her tiptoes, hooked a hand around his neck and pulled him down. His lips crushed to hers this time and his hand roamed higher up her back, just under the edge of her shirt. He thrust his other hand into her hair, cupped her head gently._

_The kiss was desperate, rougher than the first one had been, but neither pulled away as they drank each other in. The need for oxygen was what finally separated them and with that very real need, all the courage they had both felt started to melt away._

_They pulled away from each other completely, each stepping away from the other. Teyla glanced at her feet, tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "We should head to the briefing." Her voice was raw, nervous._

_He watched her walk toward the door. "I'll meet you there."_

_Ronon turned back to the railing as he heard the glass door slide shut behind him. His hands gripped the railing until his knuckles turned white but his expression betrayed his apparent frustration as his face erupted in an elated smile._

* * *

The infirmary was boring and for the first week, visitors to the pair were greatly restricted. Ronon spent his time talking to Teyla or reading out loud from briefings and magazines and newsletters that seemed to keep finding their way onto his bedside table. John brought him a little handheld computing device and he showed Ronon how to play one of the puzzle games on it. The game became Ronon's obsession while Teyla was napping during the day.

Both Ronon and Teyla were healing slowly. Ronon's three bullet wounds were sore but he felt good so long as he did not try to move too much. Teyla on the other hand, had a litany of maladies that required daily, painful attention. Her back, for instance, had to be redressed twice a day to avoid infection. Her arm had to be removed from the sling once a day to move the shoulder slowly and make sure everything was healing properly. She had been slightly dehydrated and malnourished and the meals were being pushed on her so that she could regain her strength. She still needed two more surgeries but they had to wait until some of her other injuries healed.

A physical therapist started to come by in the second week to move their injured limbs and ensure that the muscles would not atrophy too much. Teyla often had difficulty sleeping because she was so sore. She finally got the rest of the surgeries she needed and so long as everything continued to heal properly, Dr. Beckett seemed to think she wouldn't need any more invasive treatment.

By the end of the second week, her bruises were all fading, the shallow cuts were starting to heal, she was napping less and her normal color was starting to creep back into her face.

As the third week of their time in the infirmary began, Ronon was sitting on his bed, scanning a newsletter for interesting articles. "You interested in hearing about the latest Daedalus run?"

"Is it interesting?"

Ronon's eyes scanned the article. "Not really. Hey, there is something about you in here."

"That does not sound interesting either."

Ronon looked up as he heard Teyla shift. She only had one usable arm and with her back starting to heal, she sometimes had trouble finding a comfortable position. "You alright?"

Teyla smiled, "I am fine. My back itches."

Now that her wounds were really starting to heal, everything was itching. The tape holding the bandages on was itchy, the stitches were itchy, her casts were itchy, the scabs on the wounds were itchy, but at least the pain had lessened. Ronon's eyes dropped back to the newsletter and he skimmed the articles. "This article says we're going to be getting out of the infirmary soon."

"Well, that is interesting." Teyla glanced to the wheel chair in the corner of the room. "I wonder how long I will have to use that."

Ronon shrugged, his eyes still scanning the articles. "Just until you get rid of the cast and stitches I guess."

Teyla looked at her legs and sighed, spoke quietly, almost to herself. "I would not mind the rest of the injuries so much if my legs were not injured."

Ronon lowered the newsletter then, took her in. "Wanna spar?" He had a little whisper of a grin on his face.

She smiled back. "We should schedule that for tomorrow."

His grin grew to a full smile. He thought of the pair of them, one on crutches and the other in a wheel chair. "Bet we could still take Sheppard."

She laughed, just a bit and Elizabeth surprised them both by pulling aside the curtain. "I am going to refrain from telling him that you said that."

"Dr. Weir." Teyla said brightly. "What brings you here?"

"I have some questions for the both of you." She moved to pull a chair between their beds. "The prisoner still refuses to cooperate with us and I was hoping for some information we could use."

"Maybe you should use some of the same methods they used on Teyla." Ronon growled, all traces of a smile removed from his face. The man Ronon had knocked out and the one he had shot had been brought back to Atlantis. The one he shot had died but the other had been locked up for questioning.

"Ronon," Teyla admonished quietly, though deep down, she agreed. She turned her attention to Elizabeth. "What are your questions?"

* * *

"So wait, they asked you about Earth?" Elizabeth asked from her chair between Teyla and Ronon's hospital beds.

"Yes, many times. They asked if I had been there, how many people live there, the coordinates, things of that nature." Teyla was sitting up in her bed. After two weeks in the infirmary, she was starting to look much more like her old self. The place on her stomach where they had performed surgery was still sore if she sat up for too long but she tried to ignore the pain and sit up a little longer each day.

"And you told them nothing?"

"No, I never spoke when they were…interrogating me."

Ronon was drumming his fingers on his bandage covered leg. "Tell her what else they asked. About the wraith."

"Oh, yes." Teyla reached up and scratched lightly at one of the bandages on her face. "They wanted to know how Earth avoids the wraith, how secluded the planet is to avoid wraith discovery."

"How often did they interrogate you?"

Teyla's brow furrowed. "At least once on every planet we visited starting with the third planet."

"And what kind of reception did your captors receive in the towns?"

"No one ever met us at the gates and we always arrived at night. They always took me and any other prisoners they had to some secluded place and posted guard. What the other men were doing after, I have no clue. I got the feeling though, that they were to avoid drawing attention."

Elizabeth turned her attention to Ronon. "The people you talked to, the ones who were willing to help, how did they act?"

"Frightened." He answered simply.

"Why?"

"They were just afraid of getting involved in something that had nothing to do with them." He sighed when she waited for him to continue. "Most of the places were the types where people have learned to mind their own business."

Elizabeth nodded. "Do either of you have any idea where they were going? Where they were planning to stop?"

Ronon leveled his gaze. "If I had known that, I would have sent someone there to wait."

"I heard something, once. It was the last time they interrogated me. I was barely conscious but I heard them speak of taking me somewhere where they could get their answers. One of the men seemed unhappy and said that I would be no use to them after."

"What does that mean?" Ronon asked, a contemplative scowl on his face.

"I do not know. I had not even thought of it until now."

"They could tell you would die before answering them but they still thought they had some way to get their answers?" Elizabeth crossed her arms, paused in thought before standing and moving the chair back to the corner of the curtained room. "Thank you for answering my questions. You have both been a great help."

"What are you going to do now?"

"I am going to go have a little chat with our prisoner."

* * *

Note: Just a reminder to all readers, I have a whole lot of this story written so it's kind of on a path. While I appreciate the enthusiasm and the ideas, I am probably not going to change the storyline too much at this point. The challenge for me with this one was a hurt/comfort story where Ronon had to do the comforting. The whole thing took on a life of its own once I sat down to write but it still has that core idea in mind. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews! New chapter on Sunday! -Brynna 


	8. Chapter 7: Reticence

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

**Chapter 7 – Reticence**

_John loved Atlantis. He loved that everything about his days had a certain predictability to them. Even in the most unpredictable circumstances, there were still things he could count on._

_He knew that Elizabeth would wake early and would always be wearing a red shirt and a controlled smile. He knew that if he went looking for Teyla, he would probably find Ronon, too. He knew just how to annoy Rodney and how to talk to Ronon. He knew where his friends sat at lunch and the best ways to get through meetings and briefings without falling asleep. He knew that every day at the same time, Teyla would be waiting to spar with him._

_They were constants. He didn't even know he counted on those things until Teyla was gone and none of those things were the same. Elizabeth might still wear red but the smile was rarely present and when it was, it was forced. Ronon was a ghost of himself. He seemed worried and angry and completely lost without his best friend. John didn't even feel like annoying Rodney and no one knew how to talk to Ronon anymore. They had all tried to have lunch together a couple of times after her disappearance but none of them could seem to find anything to talk about with the notably empty chair staring back at them. Meetings were the same way. They all took turns glancing at the empty seat that Teyla had always occupied. John simply stopped training completely. Training with Ronon while he was angry would be a mistake so John just avoided the gym altogether. It was Teyla's domain anyway and he really didn't need an additional reminder of her every day._

_When Ronon decided to leave, things got even stranger. John slowly began to accept a new routine but it only took a quiet offer from Ronon, the first time he returned to Atlantis, to have John out helping with the search._

_

* * *

"__So where do we start?"_

_Ronon tapped his gun as they strolled down the dusty street of a small city. "First bar we find."_

"_Bar? Why?"_

"_Just one of those things, Sheppard. Men with information always seem to hang out in bars."_

"_Just like in the movies." John murmured as he followed Ronon._

_The inside of the bar was nicer than John had expected. He and Ronon found seats and waited for the bartender to serve them. John wished, just for a moment, that he had hair to cover his face like Ronon did. No one was looking at them suspiciously but John thought it was decidedly more stealth the way Ronon kept his head lowered and peered through his braids._

_The barmaid moved to the table with a bowl of some snack and a couple of mugs. Apparently this tavern only served one kind of beverage. Ronon leaned back as she eased the mugs onto the table. "What brings you boys to town?" She had a peculiar accent but she was cheerful and was trying her hardest to make eyes at Ronon._

"_Lookin' for someone." He said, his eyes still not meeting hers. He took a gulp of his drink._

"_Someone?"_

"_That's right." John spoke up. "A friend of ours."_

"_Is your friend in trouble?"_

"_We don't…really know." John said slowly, eyeing Ronon as he took another drink from his mug._

_She leaned in, lowered her voice. "You're better off trying somewhere else. People around here don't care for trouble."_

_Ronon moved his coat aside, tapped his gun idly. "Then they should probably talk to us."_

_The barmaid stepped back a bit and smirked at the pair of them. "That won't work." She gestured toward the gun. "The people you'll want to talk to aren't easily intimidated."_

_Ronon finally looked at her. "Neither are we."_

_

* * *

"__They said they saw her." Ronon was walking faster than John could keep up. Two of the shadiest men John had seen in the town told Ronon some vague information and Ronon was off to explore the lead._

"_No they didn't, Ronon. They said they saw some suspicious looking guys."_

_Ronon spun on his foot stared at John. "They could be the guys who have her."_

"_Yeah, but they might not be. We run into suspicious guys all the time."_

_Ronon stared for a second before scowling and turning to walk toward the gate again. "You're right Sheppard." He paused when he reached the gate. "If I had wanted this kind of help, I would have just asked McKay to come."_

_John spread his hands, a bit confused. "I just don't think we should get our hopes up."_

_Ronon turned to dial the gate. "You've let her go. That's fine." He turned when the coordinates were entered and rested his hand on the butt of his gun. "But I haven't."_

* * *

Elizabeth and John stood outside the cell. The prisoner stared at them, his eyes steely. He made no move to stand or to address him, he just stared straight ahead. Elizabeth pulled a chair over from the corner and sat in front of the cell. She stared back for a moment. John was behind her, his fingers drumming idly on his holstered gun. 

"You tortured one of our people." He shifted his attention from the wall behind her head to focus on her eyes. "Every person on this base is itching to kill you."

He raised an eyebrow. "So why do you not let them?"

Elizabeth glanced at John and then back to the prisoner. "I was told you weren't speaking."

"You are the leader here. I did not feel like talking to –" His eyes shifted to John, "Subordinates."

"Why did you torture her?"

"The mission was to get the information at all costs."

"Information on Earth?"

"Earth, this place, whatever. Someplace safe."

"And where were you going to take her if she never gave the information."

The man shrugged. "We switched crews with her. I was not going to be the one to take her to her final destination."

"Who were you on a mission for?"

He smiled, leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "This is where I stop answering your questions."

"You took her in broad daylight. Whoever you are working for must be really desperate." She leaned forward, mirroring his movement and held his gaze. "Maybe we could even help you if we just knew why –"

"Do you think I believe that?" He sneered. "Do you honestly think I believe that you would do anything to help? You are going to have to get better at this questioning thing. I know a guy." He kept his gaze locked on her. "You should ask Teyla about him."

Dr. Weir glanced at John before she planted her elbows on her knees and leaned in. She spoke quietly, her voice intense. "I could do it. I could have Colonel Sheppard pull out his gun, aim it at your head, pull the trigger. No one would even care. It would be less paperwork than keeping you alive."

He shifted his eyes to John and back to Dr. Weir. "But you won't."

She tilted her head. "Are you sure?" She smiled. "I'll be back, decide if you are willing to risk it."

She stood then, moved her chair to its corner. They turned to leave. "You know, she fought at first." They turned back, watched as he stood slowly and moved forward a bit. "She even broke one guy's nose. When I broke her leg, though," His smile inched across his face. "She stopped fighting. Barely even made any noise." He chuckled, took another step forward. "No matter what we did to her."

Elizabeth tapped John on the chest as his hand tightened on the butt of his holstered gun. She shot him a look and moved to walk away.

* * *

"If you do have someone kill him, I volunteer." John sat in a chair in Elizabeth's office, his fingers drumming impatiently on his ankle where it crossed over his knee. 

She nodded, studied the file on Teyla's abduction. "Ideas?" She asked before folding her hands and resting her chin there.

"We don't have much to go on."

She sighed. "If they wanted information on Earth that badly, every person who goes off world is in danger."

"We are in danger anyway. It is rarer for missions to go right, you know that."

Elizabeth sifted through the pictures of Teyla's various injuries and she sighed. "Not everyone would hold up so well to torture."

"No, but you can't suspend all off-world activity without a bit more information."

"Well, I am open to ideas here."

"I only have one." She tilted her head, waited for him to continue. "We set up a team to follow him, put a tracking device on him, and let him go."

She leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms over her chest. "Teyla and Ronon did say that the men weren't exactly brilliant. Perhaps he'll return to wherever he is from."

John shrugged. "We have hardly lost anything if he doesn't. He isn't giving us any useful information now."

"We'll call that a last option. I am going to keep trying. Once Teyla is out of the hospital, I'll get the full story and maybe have some more information to work with."

* * *

John swung by the infirmary after he left Elizabeth's office. Teyla was alone in the room and Ronon's bed was empty. 

"He was released today." She explained. "I am stuck here until my leg and stomach heal a little more." The deep gash in her leg had to be stitched several times because the wound kept reopening and her stomach was still very sore from surgery.

"Well, you certainly are looking better." It was sort of true. Her color was returning but she still looked painfully thin and Dr. Beckett must have removed the stitches from the cuts on her face because they had been stitched and taped last time he saw her but now she had red, puffy lines and ugly scabs marking her cheek, lip, and forehead.

"You are a liar." She smiled. "But thank you."

He moved to sit on Ronon's abandoned bed. "So when you get out of here, what happens then?"

Teyla shrugged. "Physical therapy, training."

"Sounds fun."

"At least I will have Ronon to keep me company."

As if on cue, Ronon limped through the curtain, the crutches he was supposed to be using clutched in one hand. "Turns out my room was more boring than the infirmary." He settled into the chair next to Teyla's bed, focused his attention on her. "No more stitches?"

"Not on my face."

"How's the leg?"

She smiled. "You have only been gone for two hours, Ronon."

Ronon smirked, turned his attention to John. "Did you and Dr. Weir get anything out of the prisoner?"

John shrugged. "Not really but we are working on a couple of new plans. The two of you don't need to worry about that though. You just need to get better." He swallowed and cleared his throat softly. "There is one more thing you both have to do while you are recovering."

They looked at him expectantly. "Both of you have to be cleared by Dr. Heightmeyer before returning to active duty."

Teyla sighed. "We do not have a choice?"

"No. I'm sorry. Dr Weir, Dr. Beckett, and I decided."

Teyla glanced at Ronon who shrugged. "I'm with Teyla on this one. I'm not really much for talking."

"Well, that's exactly why you are going to be seeing Dr. Heightmeyer. If you are going to be on my team, I want to be sure the both of you are healed in every way."

* * *

Note: Thanks for the reviews. Sorry this is a tiny bit late, I had a family emergency this weekend. And to anyone confused, I think it's in chapter 9 that you find out just how Teyla was taken and some more information about what happened to her so that's still to come. Anyway, please keep on reviewing! -Brynna 


	9. Chapter 8: Albatross

Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own it.

**Chapter 8 - Albatross **

"You look tired today." It was a statement and not a question and as such, Teyla saw no reason to answer. Dr. Heightmeyer pressed, "Are you sleeping well?"

"Not particularly."

"Teyla," She said gently. "Remember that I can't tell anyone what you tell me. I can only report your level of cooperation and whether I believe you are ready to go on missions again."

"You must forgive me. I find it difficult to talk about this."

Dr. Heightmeyer tilted her head. "I know that you are a private person but sometimes it helps to get things out in the open. To talk about them with someone impartial."

"I will try." Teyla said on a shrug.

"Good. That's all I ask. Now your sleep. Nightmares or pain?"

"Now that I am out of the infirmary, it is nightmares more than pain."

"Why do you think that is?"

Teyla sighed, decided cooperation would lessen the amount of sessions she would have to attend. "The infirmary was never completely dark and I was never alone."

"How do you feel during the day?"

Teyla glanced at the floor, used her good hand to fidget with her sling. When she did speak, it was quiet, a bit desperate. "I feel as if I am fighting a never-ending battle."

"What do you mean?"

Teyla looked up, wishing she could fast forward several weeks and be done with all of this. "I mean that it is difficult to be a burden. To be injured."

"Does that make you feel frightened?"

"Not frightened. Sometimes angry. Frustrated."

"I would consider that a very normal reaction. What do you do when you feel angry?"

"I think of sparring and how much I love to fight. I think of my friends and how hard they tried to find me. I think of peaceful things and I force the anger away."

Dr. Heightmeyer looked at the pad of paper on her lap. She looked at the questions and notes she had jotted down while she read Teyla's file. "Is that what you did when they were torturing you?"

Teyla's head came up, her eyes met Dr. Heightmeyer's. Other than a few passing mentions of interrogations, no one but Teyla herself had spoken of the torture. "No. I…I did not."

"Can you tell me what you thought of? How you got through?"

Teyla let out a shuddering sigh. She had never thought about telling anyone of her game. "I…I played a game. I pretended my voice was locked away in one part of my mind. The part of me that feels pain was locked in another part. I focused on keeping the doors locked until I was alone."

Dr. Heightmeyer paused for a stunned moment. "The kind of pain that was inflicted on you…Teyla, avoiding the pain or avoiding the crying out would take immense mental ability."

"I do not have an explanation. I just needed a way to get through and that was my instinct I suppose."

"What did you do when you were alone and could unlock the doors?"

The other game was hers. 347 was hers. "I assessed my injuries."

"Did you think you would be found?"

Teyla smiled. "I knew the team would try as hard as they could. After awhile, I just thought that maybe Ronon or Colonel Sheppard were still looking." She paused, looked at the hand that was resting on her lap. "I do not know if it is normal but I made a decision the first time I was questioned. I would have died before giving them information and in making that decision, my only real hope was to stay alive as long as possible. Long enough so that I might be found if they were looking. And if I was not to be found, I would die." Her eyes met Dr. Heightmeyer. "I believe that Ronon was just in time."

Dr. Heightmeyer set the pad on the table beside her chair. "How are you acclimating to your normal life then?"

Teyla's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"You were prepared to die. How does it feel to come back from that? To return to your normal life."

Teyla smiled wryly. "There is nothing normal about this." She tapped on the wheel of her chair. Her smile faded as she answered truthfully. "I believe that a warrior must always be prepared to die."

"Yes but like that?"

Teyla tilted her head. "I was fighting still. In a different way."

"Dr. Weir tells me that you are going to give her a complete briefing on everything that happened."

"Yes."

"How do you feel about that?"

Teyla shrugged. "I knew I would have to eventually. I am not…excited about it but it must be done."

Dr. Heightmeyer drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair. "I have an assignment for you." She stood and moved to her desk, pulled a bound book from the drawer. "I want you to write in this. Just whatever you are feeling." She handed the book to Teyla and sat in her chair again. "Add it to your meditation or your evening routine."

Teyla opened the cover, fingered the lined pages gently. "Will I have to share what I write?"

"Only if you want to."

"What is the purpose?"

Dr. Heightmeyer smiled. "Maybe I was told you were bored." She sobered, leaned forward slightly. "And maybe I think you still have some of those doors locked."

* * *

The mess hall was crowded when Ronon made his way into the room for dinner. He was on his crutches, worried that one of the medical staff would be there to berate him again if he was caught walking. 

He scanned the room and quickly saw Teyla sitting alone at a table in the corner. He made his way over and without asking, sat one crutch by one of the empty chairs near her. "I'm going to go grab some food." He stepped away. "Need anything else?"

She glanced at her tray. "More water?"

"Done." He hobbled over to the line and returned with a loaded tray balanced in one hand while he deftly maneuvered his crutch with the other. "I brought you dessert too. Saw you didn't have any." He sat in the chair, propped his crutches next to him. "Where is Elaine?" Elaine was the nurse Dr. Beckett had assigned to help Teyla while she was without the use of her legs and arm.

"She was called to the infirmary."

Ronon watched Teyla pick at her food as he shoveled his own unceremoniously into his mouth. "What's the matter?" His mouth was full. "You don't like the meat?"

"I cannot cut it."

Ronon laid down his fork and took a big gulp of his water. He moved his tray out of the way and slid hers over. He took the fork gently from her hand and grabbed her knife. "How was Dr. Heightmeyer?"

She blinked as she watched him cut her meat into small pieces. "The session was fine." He slid her tray back over and resumed eating his own food. She stared down at her food, not even bothering to mask her surprise at the simple kindness of the gesture. "Thank you."

He waved off the thanks with his fork. "How long are they saying until you are cleared?"

She speared the meat with her fork. "It depends on how quickly my legs heal. What about you?"

"Won't tell me. Doc said he won't let me push myself too hard this time." He took another gulp of his drink and muttered. "Whatever that means."

"Right now it is difficult to remember a time when there was no pain." She smiled and took a sip of her water. "Soon we will not be able to remember _this_ time."

He swallowed the food in his mouth as he raised his eyes to meet hers. A slow smile spread across his face. "Wanna spar?"

She was reminded of a different time, of a balcony and jumping fish. "Maybe some fresh air instead?"

* * *

"I could sit out here all day." 

Ronon glanced over from where he leaned against the railing, watched as she inhaled and exhaled deeply. "We'll have to start coming out here more often."

"There are times when the air inside Atlantis is just…stale."

He answered with a grunt.

Comfortable silence settled between them as Ronon breathed deeply and planted his elbows on the railing of the balcony, his hands folding as he leaned forward and contemplated the view. "We had balconies like this on Sateda."

"I know," she whispered slightly, quietly reminding him that she had seen what was left of the structures on his planet.

"No ocean though."

"Do you miss it?" Teyla asked.

Ronon turned to face her, his eyes steely. "You miss Athos?"

She tilted her head and thought for a moment. When was the last time she had even really thought about her home planet? "No, but my people are just a short flight away."

He nodded. "I miss the people. Sateda was just a place."

"Did you find any interesting new places when you were…away from the team?" Her voice was quiet. She did not really like to talk about the sacrifices he had made to find her but the question popped into her mind and she was a bit curious.

"I didn't really sightsee." He turned again to look at the view. "There was only one place I was interested in…" _wherever you were_. He let the second part of the sentence go unspoken but she felt the impact just the same.

Just as Teyla was about to say something, anything to cut the tension hanging in the air, she noticed the time on her watch. She was going to be late for her meeting with Elizabeth. She looked at Ronon apologetically. "I am supposed to meet Dr. Weir in a couple of minutes."

He moved to her automatically, "Let's go then."

* * *

Elizabeth was seated behind her desk when Ronon pushed Teyla through the door. John was standing beside Elizabeth, and their expressions were serious, bordering on grim. 

Teyla pushed at a few strands of hair wearily. "I am sorry. We lost track of the time."

Elizabeth tried to smile. "It's alright. Are you ready to do this?"

Teyla sighed. Everyone making such a big deal about this briefing was making her more nervous. "Yes."

"Do you want Ronon and John to leave?"

Teyla shrugged. They would hear the recording anyway. She knew the drill. They would go over and over her words to try to find some clue as to who kidnapped her and whether Earth might be in any real or immediate danger. "Colonel Sheppard and Ronon may remain in the room if they wish."

Teyla gave Dr. Weir a moment to set up a recording device and for John and Ronon to take the empty seats across from Elizabeth's desk. Ronon was seated next to her and as she took a deep breath in anticipation of rehashing the whole ordeal, his hand brushed hers, just slightly, just enough to let her know he was offering his strength.

"Well, I suppose I should start with the mission to Batim."

"M2X-281." Elizabeth said for the sake of continuity for the recording.

"Yes. We split up to try to gain a bit more information…"

* * *

_Ronon and Teyla pushed their way easily through the crowd. People tended to step out of the way when Ronon walked toward them. They city was bustling and no one seemed to think that visitors through the gate was very strange. People were dressed in all matters of outfits and it was obvious that some were from more technologically advanced worlds than others._

_Small trading vendors lined the streets and beyond those vendors were proper shops and inns and bars. A bank stood tall at the end of the street and a jail was settled just next to it._

"_Too many people here." Ronon muttered, his hand tightening on the gun that he had been forced to set to stun._

"_It seems the wraith would be here often if they knew how many people were here."_

"_Seems like people just visit to trade. I haven't seen any permanent family dwellings."_

_She nodded and scanned the area. "Perhaps only the shopkeepers live here."_

_He kept an eye on her as she turned away from him to scan further. A man moving fast bumped into Ronon and he lifted up his hands and turned sideways to let the man pass. His attention was only off Teyla for a moment but it was just long enough to lose her in the dense crowd._

* * *

_She was thrown completely off guard when three men surrounded her. The crowd was simply too thick to really see them coming but she still chided herself for not spotting them in time to raise her weapon. _

_Teyla felt a gun press into her back as two large men stepped up to her. They said nothing as each grabbed her under an arm and dragged her quickly. She felt the gun move from her back briefly and she used the moment to wrench one arm free and drive her heel into the foot of the man on her right. She used her free hand to punch the man in the face but before she could lift her gun and turn to take on the other two men, a sharp blow to the back of the head knocked her out cold._

* * *

_She awoke with an intense pain in her head. She pressed a hand to the back of her head and kept her eyes closed. She felt sticky warmth at the base of her skull and her hair was clumped and matted. She decided to chance opening her eyes but when she saw the oppressive darkness that surrounded her, she shut her eyes again and leaned her head against the wall behind her. She allowed herself a moment to silence the pounding in her ears before using the walls to brace her as she stood. She could touch all of the walls of the small room she was in at the same time and she felt the seams of the door but could feel no door knob or handle._

_She contemplated her situation, wondered briefly where she was, wondered if she would have to wait to be rescued or if she could help herself. She slid down the wall and curled up as best she could in the small space. She shut her eyes and felt herself relax. As she got more and more drowsy she welcomed sleep. Her head was throbbing distractingly and she couldn't really think of any good plan to get out of the situation she knew so little about._

_At least if she slept, she would be able to help when her team found her. She was certain they would find her soon._

* * *

Note: So I changed it up and ended with a flashback. Thanks for the reviews!! New chapter on Sunday! -Brynna 


	10. Chapter 9: Attrition

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

**Chapter 9 - Attrition**

_It wasn't the darkness of the rooms they kept her in or the stale air and cramped conditions that bothered her the most. It was the randomness of her captors actions. They would open the doors of her little cells from time to time and thrust in some food and water. Sometimes they asked her a question and kicked her for not answering. Sometimes they hit her or kicked her and then asked the question. It made no sense._

_They moved twice and she was always kept in the same conditions. They seemed to avoid most towns as best she could tell but they often took great steps to ensure that not only did she not know where she was at but that no one else saw her._

_When they got to their third destination ( Third planet? She wasn't sure.) hunger and fatigue were starting to set in. She still hadn't figured out who had her or why and the weaker she got, the less sharp her mind was and the less sharp her mind was, the less she thought about escape._

_The bruises on her body ached and she could tell that she was losing weight. She had absolutely no idea how much time had passed since she was captured but she figured it was a short enough period that the team was still looking for her. She hoped it was anyway._

_That third destination brought some new players into the mix. She was taken immediately into a room that was brighter than any of the other places she had been deposited but it was still quite dim._

_A chair was the only furniture in the room but it was more than she had seen in awhile and she was promptly pushed into the chair and her hands were secured behind her back. She used some of her diminishing stores of strength to kick at her captors with her unbound legs. They smirked at her and punched her quickly across the face. She kept her head turned, her eyes closed as she heard the men leave the room._

_Teyla looked around, noticed how dingy the little room was. There was something that looked suspiciously like blood spotting the walls but she tried to convince herself it was rust or just…a trick of the light. They left her sitting there so long that she started to doze off. Even in the uncomfortable position she was in, she still found that she could sleep._

_The door pulled open suddenly and she was startled to see bright light on the other side. She hadn't really seen any bright light since her ordeal began and her eyes started to tear immediately. She turned her head to protect her eyes and when she heard the door close, she turned back and saw four men standing over her._

_The two men who had carried her into the room were standing back while the other two, the men she had never seen before were stepping forward. They were wearing tan jumpsuits and one carried a bag. She wasn't entirely sure she was curious at all about what was in that bag._

_The man with the bag moved to her rear and she turned her head just enough so that she could keep and eye on all four of them. The knot at her wrists was tied extremely tight and as she shifted around, she felt the itchy fibers digging into her flesh. The man in front of her pushed his glasses up his nose and gave Teyla a gentle smile. "I'm told you are called Teyla."_

"_Yes," she said evenly, a little unnerved by the man's calm demeanor._

"_Pretty name." He smiled again and she felt goose bumps prick up on her skin._

"_Thank you."_

"_I was told you weren't polite, that you have been fighting when you can. Now I think maybe my men have been lying." He squatted down then, brought his face to her level, drew her attention to meet his gaze fully. "I can help this whole ordeal come to a close."_

_She didn't respond but instead waited for him to get on with whatever he was really here to do. "All you have to do is answer my questions. Do you think you can do that?" He pushed at his glasses again._

"_It would depend on the nature of the questions." Her voice was more even than she would have thought herself capable._

"_Teyla." He said with a sigh. "You must understand that it is you who chooses when and how your ordeal ends. It will, however, end with me getting the information I need, of that I am sure."_

_She set her jaw, fixed him with a calculating glare. "You could tell me why you need the information or who you are. Perhaps I would be more cooperative then."_

"_It is not in our interest to tell you anything you do not need to know." He stood then, clapped his hands together once and then smiled when it startled her into jumping. "Enough with the preliminaries and introductions. Let us get down to business."_

_He nodded to the man behind her and stepped one step back, then two. His hands were clasped behind his back as he rocked back on his heels. She felt the other man tug on the restraints at her wrists, testing their strength. "Now," the man in front of her pushed at his glasses. "What can you tell me about Atlantis?"_

_She furrowed her brow but kept her jaw firmly set, her mouth didn't even twitch to respond._

_He tilted his ear toward her, as if listening for her answer. He cupped his ear with one hand when she held her silence. "You are going to have to speak up, Teyla." When he was still met with silence, he turned again towards her. "No? You have nothing to say?" He clucked his tongue. "That's a pity."_

_He nodded to the man at her rear and immediately, she felt an intense burning sensation in her arm. Her gasp ended with panting that kept her from yelling out. He was holding something scalding hot to her arm and the tight restraints did not let her move even a precious millimeter._

_The man with the glasses clucked his tongue again. "I do not like to hurt pretty girls. I know!" He clapped his hands together again as if he had some revelation. "I will ask you a more pointed question." He put a finger to his mouth as if he was deep in thought. "What to ask, what to ask." He was patronizing her and if she could concentrate on anything other than the pain, she would be furious. "I know what I can ask." He paused and smiled, waited until she looked at him. "Is Atlantis really as safe from the wraith as rumors indicate?"_

_She stared at the wall over the man's head, held her breath when she saw him nod to the man behind her. She barely gasped as he again burned the flesh of her arm._

"_I have many tricks, Teyla. Many tricks. You will talk to me or you will get to see them all. It's your choice of course. I am going easy on you this time, you know." She saw him push again at his glasses before he clasped his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels. She could tell by the sound of his voice that he was smiling even though she was now resolutely not looking directly at him. "I have a question that could be the last I ever ask of you if you will just answer me." _

_He paused for effect and she immediately used the time to wonder if she had ever met anyone who more liked to hear themselves speak. She smiled, just a little when Rodney's face popped into her mind. "Tell me, lovely Teyla, what are the gate coordinates to Atlantis?"_

* * *

Note: Sorry for the delay. I had finals this week so I missed my Sunday posting time in favor of working on projects at school. Anyway, as an apology, two chapters at once! Thanks for the reviews, now go read chapter 10. 


	11. Chapter 10: Denouement

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 10 - Denouement**

_She learned many things during her time in captivity. She learned that being whipped hurts just as badly as one would imagine. She learned that bones broken slowly and with purpose hurt a hell of a lot worse than ones broken quickly and by accident. She learned that knives wielded by an expert were more dangerous then knives wielded by a crazy man with an intent to stab._

_In addition to the pain Teyla was constantly in, the ache of hunger stayed with her for all of the weeks she was in captivity. She never felt full and she noticed how weak she felt, how her clothes seemed to hang off of her. They gave her enough food and water to stay alive but if they ever gave her anything beyond that, she considered it a luxury._

_The torture sessions pretty much always went like the first. The venue changed but the show stayed the same. She was asked similar questions although eventually the focus moved from Atlantis to Earth and then eventually to a mixture of both. Sometimes they didn't ask her anything at all._

_The men were meticulous about never mentioning their names or anything that would give her any kind of clue as to who they were. She found herself truly hating the man with glasses. Although he was never the one actually hurting her, she began to associate him with this entire nightmare as if he was some kind of mascot to her torture._

_Although the guards or the "muscle" as she sometimes thought of them, changed from time to time, her two torturers were a constant. Every planet they arrived on, she was taken to some kind of room and restrained in whatever general position they needed her in. Sometimes she stayed in the room they tortured her in for the duration of her time on the planet and sometimes they moved her again to a dark cell after they were done with her._

_She never really spoke again after that first session although when she added points to her tally, she always tried to count out loud for fear of losing count. She couldn't stand to lose count, wouldn't be able to lose one of the only things she felt was truly keeping her sane._

_Teyla began to lose track, toward the end of her captivity, of what her torturers were even asking her, nor could she really understand why she couldn't tell them what they wanted to know. She simply remembered that it was her job to keep her mouth shut, to protect the secrets of Atlantis and of Earth._

_She heard some things in the few days before Ronon found her. She was in a constant state of half-consciousness but her mind was still sharp enough to tune in when they were talking about her fate. The men said a few things about time running out and about having no choice. She didn't really understand what they meant but she felt like she was running out of time too. She wondered if she could muster the strength to fight back, just once more. She wanted to go out fighting if this is where it all had to end._

_Teyla was given just a tiny bit of hope when she heard one of the men mention another prisoner. If someone was still looking for her, maybe another kidnapping would give them some new places to look. If. Maybe. She was dealing with a lot of both._

_She could tell that the man in glasses was more frustrated than usual the moment she was brought in for what was to be her last torture session. He started talking before she was even placed in the chair and he was not talking in his typical measured tones. Instead he spoke quickly, with reserves of anger evident in his voice._

"_Teyla, why are you trying to be a martyr? You will die. One way or another, if you don't tell me what I need to know, you will die and I will get the information anyway."_

_She stared at the wall, her head pounding and her stomach aching. She was barely aware of the words he was saying. He rubbed at his forehead in frustration. "Nothing is going to make you talk, is it?"_

_She shifted her gaze, focused her eyes directly on him. She found that her throat was scratchy when she opened her mouth to answer with a simple, "No." Her voice sounded gruff from lack of use and as soon as the word was out, she shifted her eyes again to stare at the wall._

_She could feel him staring at her, as if willing her to change her mind. "Very well," he said after a minute or so. "Very well."_

_He turned on his heal, "Leave her unconscious." He pulled the door open and stepped through but then as an afterthought, called over his shoulder, "Don't kill her."_

* * *

Everyone was silent when Teyla finished her story. They had let her get it all out, only interjecting a question or two. She told every detail she could remember, often backtracking when something popped into her mind. Elizabeth cleared her throat and leaned forward. "The next thing you remember, you were with Ronon."

Teyla nodded, a headache quickly forming. "I am sure there are details I am forgetting."

Elizabeth smiled gently. "You did great, Teyla."

Ronon leaned forward, next to Teyla and he shifted to pull something free from his pocket. "I'm not sure if this will help."

Elizabeth took the folded piece of paper from him and glanced at him before opening it. "What is this?"

"It's the gate coordinates of every planet I went to while I was looking for Teyla."

She scanned over the coordinates and the hastily jotted comments next to each. He could tell that she was trying not to look surprised that he had taken notes. "This is great, Ronon." She smiled at him. "I am going to talk to the prisoner again and then we will proceed accordingly." She turned her attention to Teyla. "Would you like to be kept informed?"

Teyla thought about it through the headache that was now screaming. She trusted these people to do what needed to be done and she didn't really want to hear about a situation she couldn't help with. She shook her head. "When I am better able to be of assistance."

Ronon studied her for a second. He had spent enough time with her in the infirmary to know her moods. "Headache?" He murmured.

She nodded quickly and smiled apologetically at the room. "Would you mind if I went to my quarters?"

"No, of course not." Elizabeth said. "Would you like me to call Elaine?"

"I can take her. I think I might get some sleep too." Ronon stood then, not bothering to ask for permission to leave. Elizabeth watched as the pair left in silence.

* * *

"That was unpleasant." John said, staring at his hands.

Elizabeth leaned her chin on her folded hands and contemplated the piece of paper Ronon had handed over. "And we just had to listen. I can't ask her to do that again."

"She knew she would have to brief us eventually. Teyla is strong."

Elizabeth glanced up at him as she started copying Ronon's information onto a blank piece of paper. "Don't act like hearing that didn't make your stomach turn."

"Of course it did but I won't have teams go out and get hurt because we don't know what we are dealing with."

"I agree." Elizabeth continued copying, thinking about Teyla's story. "He lied, you know?"

"Who? Ronon?"

"No. The prisoner. He said he broke her leg and that was when she stopped fighting." Teyla had explained in pretty explicit details about how her leg was broken.

"What do you think that means?"

"I don't know. Maybe he is toying with us." She murmured, scanning over her neat column of written coordinates. She picked up the page from Ronon and held it out for John to take. "Have Rodney go over every planet. I want to know what the common thread is. I want a team on M2X-281. I want them to find where she was held. Start investigating everything we actually know. Keep me posted. I am going to keep working with the prisoner."

He nodded and scanned the paper, his mind formulating plans and strategies as he stood and moved toward her door. He stopped with his hand on the door and turned back. "Do me a favor?"

"Yeah." Elizabeth looked up, her voice a bit distracted.

"Don't go down there by yourself."

"He is in a cell, John."

"Just – Please, do this for me. I'll feel better."

She nodded, understanding that he felt just as responsible for her as he did for Teyla. "I will John." She said softly. He nodded and offered a little smile before turning to go find Rodney.

* * *

Ronon turned down the covers on Teyla's bed and lifted her from her chair before settling her gently on the bed. The torn muscles from the bullet that lodged in his shoulder protested briefly but he ignored it as she laid her head lightly against his chest while he held her.

He pulled the covers around her and went to her bathroom to get her a cup of water. She pointed out the proper bottle of pills for him and he helped her sit up enough to take the medicine for her head.

"These make me tired." She muttered as she settled again into her pillows.

"Good." He took the cup from her and returned it to its place in the bathroom.

"Ronon?" She muttered, her eyes already closing.

"Yeah?" He stepped close to the bed.

"Do you remember that day? With the fish?"

He swallowed. "Yeah."

"I thought about that day sometimes." Her face was relaxing as the pills did their job. "A happy memory." She muttered softly, almost to herself as sleep claimed her.

"Yeah." He breathed, reaching down to push her hair off her face. "Happy memory."

* * *

Note: New chapter on Sunday! Thanks for the reviews. 


	12. Chapter 11: Impetus

Disclaimer: For the 12th time, I don't own it.

**Chapter 11 – Impetus**

_Teyla breathed deeply as she moved away from the balcony. It took everything she had to calm her rapidly beating heart and to return her face to its normal serenity. It took more than everything she had not to look back, not to turn and stare at the man she had just walked away from._

_She would be lying if she said she had never noticed anything between them, never noticed the way Ronon looked at her or had never caught her own gaze lingering, just a bit too long. But she always thought it would be just one of those things, a simple kind of chemistry, a mutual attraction that would never amount to anything more. She thought it would pass, that it would go the way of her and John's brief attraction. But it hadn't and now they had kissed and unlike with John, this time, she had kissed back._

_Teyla smiled at someone as she passed and wondered, her face tinting slightly at the thought, if they could tell that she had just kissed Ronon or that her nerves were still jumping from it or that a part of her wanted nothing more than to turn back and throw caution to the wind. She couldn't do that though. She was a person who thought things out, who played things from every angle in her mind before she made a decision._

_Her mind was already racing and even though she wished she had time to meditate, just to allow herself the chance to clear her brain for a bit, her feet moved automatically toward the meeting room for the briefing._

_She paused at the doorway, looking back to see if Ronon was close behind, not even sure what she would say if he was. Teyla moved to take her seat. John and Rodney were already there, bickering as usual so she spared a moment to glance at Ronon's empty seat, wondering the best way to handle the whole situation. Maybe it was just a kiss, one kiss, and nothing would have to be "handled." But maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was a challenge, maybe it was a beginning, maybe it was an inevitability, maybe it was exactly what they both wanted. Maybe._

_She glanced up as his large frame filled the doorway. She forced her face to remain impassive as his eyes sought hers. But then he smiled at her. Just a whisper of a little mischievous smile. It was a taunt. It was his way of saying, "They might not know what just happened, but I sure do." It infuriated her and it warmed her all at the same time. _

_She smiled down at her hands as he moved to sit next to her but her smile faltered just a bit when she realized he was still looking at her. She glanced at him, pushed at her hair as she raised an eyebrow. He shook his head, crossed his arms across his chest and sat back in his chair as Elizabeth started the briefing. Teyla tore her gaze away and gave Elizabeth her attention. She was startled to note that her mind was no longer racing. With Ronon sitting only a breath away, she felt totally peaceful, exactly right._

_

* * *

_"The only correlation between these places is that they all have large populations and they all have large trading areas." Rodney explained as he clutched a copy of Ronon's list. 

"Well, that would make sense. Villages that see a large amount of traders would not be surprised by visitors. It would be easier to blend in."

"Right but it also means that it will be hard to find anyone who knows anything on any of these planets."

"Well we knew that. That's why Ronon had so much trouble."

"I also took the liberty of looking again at the pictures that Beckett took of the body of the guy that Ronon killed." He paused as he opened a file and flipped through documents and photos. "Look at this."

He slid the picture across the table to Weir and pointed at a spot on the picture. "Look at his arm."

"Rodney, we already examined the markings on his body and his physiology. There was nothing of any importance."

"Just look at the tattoo again."

She looked at it, even though she had seen it a dozen times as she went over and over the case file. "What am I looking for?"

He flipped again through his file and pulled out a photograph of a similar tattoo from the prisoner. "Look at this one."

"Rodney, they look exactly the same."

"No. Look again. Relax your eyes." He gestured quickly over the pictures. "It's kind of like one of those magic eye things."

She stared until her eyes watered and as she blinked the tears away, she saw the difference. What had appeared to be random lines began to form a pattern and the pattern looked familiar.

"What is this?"

"It's a derivative of an ancient language. "I am having trouble translating them without greater volumes of text to work with but I think they are a sort of identification, like a dog tag."

She looked up from the pictures. "So this could tell us a planet name?"

"I don't know. It could."

"And you have searched the databases for this language?"

"Of course. As I said, it's a derivative of a language we have encountered but I still need more text to pick up the patterns."

She twined her fingers together, planted her elbows on the desk. "Go with Sheppard to the planets. See what you can find. I'll send these pictures to Stargate Command. Maybe Dr. Jackson has seen this type of text before."

"I'll let you know if I find anything."

"I'll do the same."

* * *

A knock at Elizabeth's door had her looking up just in time to see Ronon stalk in. His crutches were clutched uselessly in one hand and his limp only altered his predatory stride a bit. 

"I don't think they will do you much good like that." She gestured to the crutches. He looked worried or frustrated and she could almost bet on what he was going to ask.

He grunted and sat in the chair that Rodney had vacated only minutes earlier. "I want to help Sheppard and McKay."

She considered him for just a moment, crossed her arms across her chest. She could practically feel the anger rolling off his body, see the tenseness in his every move. "No."

His hands were folded together, his arms resting on the elbows of her chair. "Can't just do nothing anymore."

"Her story shook you up." It was pointless to say it but she had to let him know she understood.

He raised an eyebrow, tilted his head. "Wasn't easy to hear."

"No, it wasn't." She leaned back in her chair. "You're still injured, Ronon." She watched as his leg started bouncing up and down, thought about how he had stumbled through the gate with Teyla in his arms, how he had worked tirelessly to find her, even how he had rushed to help Teyla with her headache the day before. "You've done enough."

"So I'm just supposed to sit around here?"

"And heal. Yes." She leveled her gaze. "Look, Ronon, you are closer to her then anyone else and we need her back. She needs a friendly face."

He looked a bit torn now and she could tell that even though he may want to spend more time with Teyla, he was still a man of action. "You're here and Elaine and Beckett."

She decided to drop the pretenses. She leaned forward, softened her voice. "You know what I mean, Ronon."

His leg stilled and he met her gaze. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." She said with a smile. "I'll make a compromise with you. When they find something, the men who captured her or anything beyond this investigatory phase, you will be cleared to go help."

"The man with the glasses?" He growled.

"No promises but if there is any way…"

He nodded, apparently satisfied enough and he stood. He crossed to the door in one stride and just as he was about to push the door open, he dropped his hand and turned, just enough to be able to look her in the eye. "Thanks." Without waiting for a response, he limped out the door, the forgotten crutches still dangling from his hand.

Elizabeth sighed as her door closed behind him. She gave him three days before he was back asking again to go help. She pushed away from her desk and stood to go contact Stargate Command.

* * *

Ronon had deposited his crutches unceremoniously under his bed. He was tired of the hassle and his limp wasn't so bad. If the medical staff gave him any grief, he'd just use that glare that usually made people leave him alone. 

He was thinking about what Dr. Weir had said as he roamed the halls of Atlantis. He didn't realize he was looking for Teyla until he felt relief at finding her. He was drawn to the small common room with the television when he noticed that the door was slightly ajar. Most of the inhabitants of Atlantis had watched every movie or recording more than once and as such, the room no longer got much use.

Teyla's nurse Elaine was sitting in a chair, a tissue in her hand as she dabbed at her eyes. She was a cheerful lady with an accent similar to Dr. Beckett's and since Teyla liked her well enough, so did Ronon. She was older than the average inhabitant of Atlantis and her red hair was always neatly twined into a bun at the nape of her neck while her glasses were perched precariously on the tip of her nose. John had called her Mary Poppins once but as with most cultural references, Ronon dismissed it offhand when he realized that he didn't understand it. She motioned him in the room when she saw him standing, a bit uncertainly, in the doorway.

Teyla always looked different when she was completely relaxed. She was curled on the couch as much as her various injuries would allow and a blanket was pulled across her lap. Her hair, longer now than Ronon could ever remember it, was pulled back into a messy tail and her bangs were swept to the side and held out of her eyes with a little clip. She was totally engrossed in whatever they were watching and when Ronon approached the couch, she offered him only a brief smile and pulled her legs in tighter.

He sat near her feet and slumped low, his arms crossed over his chest. Whatever she was watching seemed to be nearing the end and so he let her watch without asking any questions. But as soon as the credits came up and Teyla gave a satisfied sigh, Ronon asked. "Why was there no color?"

Teyla stared at the remote control for a moment before finding the button she was looking for. "It is an old film."

He grunted and picked up the DVD box from the little table. "Any good?"

"It was wonderful."

"It's one of the greatest ever made." Elaine sniffled and sighed happily. Ronon had no idea how to respond to someone who was crying and smiling at the same time so he stared at the box more intently. She stood and pushed at her little glasses with one finger before moving to the couch and squeezing Teyla's good shoulder. "I'll leave you two alone, then. Call if you need anything." She squeezed Ronon's shoulder as she passed, much as she had Teyla's. "I'll trust you to get her to her room."

He nodded, surprised that she had touched him in such a familiar way when most people were still moving aside when he walked down the corridors.

"She is not intimidated by you." Teyla said as Elaine pulled the door shut behind her.

He just grunted, not sure what to make of the fact that he was a little bit pleased that someone like Elaine could see the good in him.

"What does _Casablanca_ mean?" He sounded out the word carefully.

"It is a city on Earth. Would you like to watch something else?"

"Sure." He stood and placed the DVD in its box before scanning the shelf. "What do you want to watch?"

She pushed herself up and leaned forward a bit to see the rows of tapes and DVDs. "It does not matter to me."

"What's the one Sheppard always talks about?"

"Star Wars." She gestured towards its place on the shelf.

"Which one?" His hand hovered over the six movies that were lined up neatly together.

"The one that says four, I believe."

"You wanna watch it?"

"Sure." She settled again into the couch as Ronon put the DVD into the player.

He flopped again onto the couch, his arms stretched over the back and his legs settled in front of him. He could feel her feet pressing into his thigh as she got comfortable. He left them there and tried not to think about their warm presence as the opening crawl shot across the screen.

As the movie moved along, Ronon decided that the story was decent enough and despite himself, he was getting involved with the characters. "You've seen these already, right?" Ronon asked Teyla as lightsabers crashed together.

"Yes. John made me watch it right when it arrived."

Ronon kept his eyes on the television. "Do Luke and Leia get together?" He mumbled as if he was embarrassed to ask the question.

She held back a little grin. "Do you really want to know?

"Yeah."

"No. She ends up with Han Solo."

He couldn't stop his quick smile. "Good." She leaned against the back of the couch and the top of her head settled solidly against his arm. He watched the screen for a second, trying not to think about the warm feet against his leg or the silky hair against his arm. "So when does that happen?"

* * *

Note: Thanks for the reviews. Sorry for the delay. Work has been crazy because of the holidays. There WILL be a new chapter on Thursday. I already have it prepped, just have to upload it. Now, review! -Brynna 


	13. Chapter 12: Ameliorate

Disclaimer: Still don't own it.

**Chapter 12 - Ameliorate**

_Bradus crouched low in the bushes, watching as figures passed by on a little trail. They were talking about something, it didn't matter what. All Bradus saw were marks. He had been assigned to the job of determining the best way to evacuate their planet, the best way to get to Atlantis or Earth or one of the other places they had learned about._

_He watched the team in front of him for interactions, signs of who would be the most compliant, the easiest to glean information from. The two men in the front were talking loudly, arguing a bit. The taller man and the woman in the back were exchanging amused glances. Bradus immediately dismissed the taller man as a possibility. He didn't think there was any way he would give the information. The other three were all possibilities. The men in front both seemed strong, though the whiny one definitely seemed like his best bet. The woman was an obvious choice but looking at her made him think of his own wife back home._

_He sighed as he watched her. He couldn't allow his personal feelings to get in the way of the recommendation he had to make in just a day's time. Bradus watched as she laughed, as the tall man nudged her with his shoulder making her grin up at him with just a hint of shyness. He knew what he had to do._

_

* * *

__Bradus stood nervously in front of the council, his best outfit pressed just that morning by his wife, was stiff and scratched at his neck. He didn't want to make this recommendation at all. Didn't want to be the cause of any harm on another person. He thought though of the night before, of tucking in his little girl. His gaze had lingered, only briefly, on the other little bed in the room where his son had slept. A familiar pain had entered his heart and his resolve had stiffened. The planet had been reduced to only a quarter of its original population in the last three cycles, it was time to do something._

_His thoughts eased his nerves and he began to speak. He made his recommendation. The whiny man, the scientist was to be the first target, upon failure, they were to target the woman. It was as simple as that, he had possibly just signed a death warrant for an innocent man or woman._

_Bradus stepped back when he was thanked for his assistance and he watched as the council called Vardis to come before them. There was something about Vardis that made everyone he came across just a bit nervous. He had a calm façade that clearly masked a maniacal nature._

_Vardis pushed at his glasses, locked his hands behind his back and rocked back on his heals. He listened with a pleased little smile as the head of the council told him his mission. Vardis was to use whatever force he needed to get the information. He was to try to keep the hostage alive if possible but he was given a time limit of a quarter of a cycle. _

_They said something then that Bradus didn't understand. "If at that time, you do not have coordinates to a safe location, take the hostage to the creature at Faldaera. That, however, is a last option."_

"_Vardis," they said as he nodded. "Time is of the essence. This could well be our final chance."_

_

* * *

_Elizabeth did as John asked. Two marines accompanied her down to the cells but they hung back as she proceeded to stand before the man in the cell. 

"Dr. Weir." He said as he sat up from where he was laying on the little cot.

She nodded at him and dragged a chair over. She flicked on the little recording device she always took with her when she talked to him. "I am again disadvantaged by the fact that I don't know your name."

He looked at the corner of his cell intently for a brief moment and pushed his hair from his eyes. "I have been thinking about that." His tone was measured as if he was thinking even while he spoke. "I will tell you things that I believe will not compromise the cause if you will improve my conditions a bit."

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."

"I want a better blanket and warm food."

She tilted her head. "That's more than you gave Teyla."

He smiled and she was struck, not for the first time with the knowledge that they had maybe underestimated this man's intelligence. "I'm going to give you more information than she gave us."

"Very well." Elizabeth conceded. "We'll start with the blanket."

He planted his elbows on his knees. "My name is Cayus."

"What is the name of the other man? The one that was killed."

"Haldis."

Elizabeth felt like she had achieved a significant victory with just those two answers but she still needed more. "Where are you from?"

He smiled. "I can not say."

"Why did you kidnap Teyla?"

He sighed, traced the lines of one hand with the thumb of the other. "My planet is in danger of being decimated by the Wraith. We heard that Atlantis had been found and then we heard that the inhabitants of the city were from a planet that was safe from the Wraith. We wanted to protect what is left of our people."

"So you felt that the best way to save your people was to capture and torture a woman."

"I do what I am told, Dr. Weir. I did not mind though. She stood between us and safety."

"Why torture though? Why not hold her as ransom for the gate coordinates or something like that?"

"I am not really sure. I heard that they were supposed to pick up a native of your planet perhaps when they failed to do so, they did not believe you would cooperate as fully."

"Teyla mentioned another prisoner."

"We are questioning anyone who might know of a safe place."

Elizabeth sat back in her chair, raised an eyebrow. "Questioning?"

"Torturing if you would prefer. It's a matter of semantics when you are trying to save a whole race of people."

"So you find a team and capture the only woman on the team and proceed to practically kill her. Slowly. Over several weeks. With such a fine example of your race, I'm not really sure it deserves to be saved."

He went tight lipped for a moment but after staring at her his mouth began to curve in a smile. "You don't mean that. And furthermore, you and I both know that your Teyla is far from helpless."

Elizabeth sighed. "She was."

"Her injuries were an unfortunate outcome." He had a sneer in his voice when he said that, a certain hint of pride that had Elizabeth's blood boiling.

"The first time I spoke to you, you said that you broke Teyla's leg and yet she told us a different story. How do I know I can trust anything you are telling me?"

He smiled, his lips thin. "I suppose you don't."

"Then I'll ask this because I think I already know the answer: Are my people still in danger?"

He leaned forward, gripped the edge of the cot with white-knuckled fingers. "I'll ask this: Do we have the coordinates yet?"

* * *

The marines John had assigned to replace Teyla and Ronon just weren't Teyla and Ronon. They were good enough as men and as Marines and they took orders better than Ronon and were more intimidating than Teyla. No matter how good they were though, they were not his team. 

He could see that Rodney felt it too as he stuck close to John and gave him a look whenever one of the men said something or asked something that Teyla or Ronon would never say.

They were on Batim, the planet Teyla had been taken from and it wasn't the first time they had searched this planet. It wasn't even the third time. They found out, just after she was taken that the underbelly of the planet's surface contained an intricate web of interconnecting caves. The inhabitants of the planet made their home in those caves. Although they welcomed visitors to the planet's surface, the same could not be said for the cities below.

Ronon had been positive that Teyla had been held in one of the caves before they moved her off the planet but he could never find a way in and the only person that he found on the planet that had been willing to help was still not willing to escort Ronon into the caves.

John and Rodney were concentrating the search on the woods to the south of the trading area that Teyla had been taken from. They were no longer expecting to find clues on the surface of this planet but they wanted to try and find some alternate way into the cave system, a back door that the captors might have known about, a way into a secluded area that they could have used to keep her out of sight until the gate was clear.

They had already searched the village where Ronon had found Teyla and Rodney's bag held a few clues they thought might have been of some importance. Other teams were on other planets, all with the instructions to get word to Sheppard if they found anything important. Ronon's notes were important as was the work that Radek and the rest of the science team were doing with the clues they had found. They were going to find Teyla's captors, of that John had no doubt. They were going to eliminate the threat to Earth and Atlantis and give all of the off-world teams a small peace of mind back.

The work on this planet was slow moving. There was so much ground to cover and they only had a general direction to search in. They had searched all of the trails leading from the village after Teyla was taken and they had found nothing. The woods were the only place left to search. Rodney had some kind of device that could determine if there were caves beneath their feet. Unfortunately, on this planet, there were always caves beneath their feet and so Rodney had to turn off the beeping and concentrate solely on the numbers on the little screen. A small depth might indicate a shaft or opening they could explore.

"Nothing yet?" John asked as Rodney walked with his eyes glued to the little device.

"If there was anything, I would have told you." He said with that familiar exasperated tone.

"Well, hurry up."

"Don't you think I am going as fast as I can."

John shrugged and watched as Rodney furrowed his brow and walked around and around in tighter and tighter circles. "What _are_ you doing?"

Rodney ignored him. "Here. Right here. Zero depth."

John squatted near Rodney, brushed away some ground covering and rocks. There was dirt below. It looked just like the rest of the ground, it certainly wasn't the arched doorway with a doorbell and mail box that he had secretly been hoping to find. "Huh." John grunted as he sat back on his heels.

"Well?" Rodney said. "Dig!"

John gave him a look but used his hands to dig a small hole. He was only digging for a moment when his hand brushed something that was not dirt. One of the Marines handed over a small folding shovel from his pack and John began to move the dirt from the area more quickly. The other Marine joined him with his own shovel and it was only a few minutes before a sound door made of wooden planks was unearthed.

"Well," John said, folding the shovel again. "Nice work Rodney."

Rodney looked pleased with himself as the Marines opened the hatch and shined their tack lights into the dark opening. "It's dark." John stated the obvious.

"It's a _cave._" Rodney exclaimed.

"Shall we check it out, sir?" One of the Marines asked.

"Go ahead. But be careful."

The Marine lowered himself into the hole, found the top steps of the hewn staircase that descended into the ground. The other Marine followed while John and Rodney waited for the all-clear.

It came just a few minutes later and John and Rodney turned on their own lights as they made their way into the opening. The tunnel at the base of the stairs was damp and dark but it was large enough for them all to walk through easily. The end of the tunnel gave way to an area with doors in the rock. John shined his light around, saw that there was a table in the center of the large room. Bottles littered the floor around the wooden chair and some kind of playing cards were strewn across the table. Rodney stepped to the table and examined the cards.

John moved to one of the doors. It had chains and a lock that was dangling. John pulled the door open and shined his light inside. It wasn't a naturally made room. Instead it had been cut into the rock and was no bigger than a little closet. He shined his light at the floor and saw a dark shadow. He moved closer and bent down. Teyla's vest. This was the place. He shined his light around some more and pulled a camera from his pack to take some pictures for Elizabeth to see. The room was tiny and would be pitch black with the door closed. It made him just a bit nauseous to see the kind of space she was kept in.

He turned and saw Rodney place the cards in a bag before depositing them in his pack with the other stuff they had been able to collect. John held up Teyla's vest and Rodney swallowed and held open his bag for John to put the vest in.

One of the Marines opened the other door and called out to John. He rushed over and saw a room with a bed and some other furniture. "I guess this is where the guards slept." John said. "Probably took shifts. That's why there is only one bed."

He moved in the room and shined his light under the bed. He opened the top drawer on the bedside table, then the bottom one when the top one was empty. A book sat there. A leather bound book with no title. He pulled it from the drawer carefully. Rodney peered over his shoulder as John thumbed through the pages. "Maybe it's a Bible."

The Marines and John turned as one to look at Rodney. "You know. Like a hotel?"

John rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Whatever it is, is it the same language as those tattoos?"

Rodney took the book and squinted his eyes at the text. "I think so."

"Good." John said as he moved to examine the rest of the room. They took pictures of every inch of all of the rooms and gathered anything they thought might be of any kind of use. On the way out, John affixed a little motion tracker on the wooden door. If anyone opened that door, they were going to know about it.

* * *

Note: So this was a chapter to push the non-romantic plot forward a bit more. This is one of the only chapters with no Ronon or Teyla stuff but I still like the way it turned out. If anything about the people who took Teyla is still confusing to you, just keep in mind that stuff is being set up now that will be paid off or explained later. Thanks for all the reviews. Right now I think that a new chapter will be up on Sunday but I have a lot of family stuff going on so it might be Monday or Tuesday. -Brynna 


	14. Chapter 13: Felicity

Note: Guess what? I still do not own Stargate: Atlantis.

**Chapter 13 – Felicity**

_Ronon had been sick only twice during the entire seven years that he was a runner so being sick while on a mission not only surprised him, it infuriated him. It was supposed to be an easy one. He and Teyla were to go to a village on this god-forsaken ice-ball of a planet and just keep their ears open. They were supposed to stay together and keep their weapons hidden. Information gathering was not his strong suit but Teyla never missed much and he would be there if things took a violent turn. He liked when just he and Teyla went out so he didn't mind the mission._

_When he started sneezing though, it was a different story entirely._

_There was no warmth in the entire village. Teyla and Ronon had both been outfitted with cold weather gear but the warmer Satedan climate had done nothing to prepare him for the bone deep cold that a planet made from ice could bring._

_Teyla and Ronon booked a room in one of the two inns that the village housed and then they moved to the bar downstairs. No one seemed to think visitors were at all odd, even though, Ronon thought as he sneezed hugely, he could not imagine why anyone would want to visit this place._

_Teyla shot him a sideways glance as he sneezed again, her eyebrow raised as he cursed slightly afterwards. He ignored the glance and stalked over to the bar. He tried to look casual as he leaned against it and ordered a drink for himself. He felt Teyla move in behind him so he ordered a drink he knew she liked as well._

_They took their drinks to a table that was near a group of men that were talking quietly, their heads bowed together. Teyla sat with her back to them, she leaned back in her chair just a bit, tilted her head as she listened to them talk. They were talking about local diplomacy but she only heard about a minute of their conversation before huge coughs interrupted them. _

_Ronon was feeling worse by the minute. On top of the sneezing and coughing, he was feeling achy and tired. "Are you alright?" He heard Teyla ask, her voice worried._

"_I'm fine." He growled, pissed off and not completely sure why._

_Her brow furrowed as another coughing fit wracked his body. "Ronon –"_

"_I'm fine!" He snapped, just before he sneezed again._

_She gave him a look that said she was losing patience. "Go up to the room and lay down. I will find you some medicine."_

"_You aren't going out without me." He gave her a challenging look and leveled his gaze, daring her to argue._

"_Fine." She smiled and even though he was angry and sick, he would be lying if he said his heart didn't skip a beat. "You can come with me to find medicine before you go to bed."_

_He watched, irritated anew as she pulled the thick hood of her coat over her hair and stood to leave._

_

* * *

__It was sometime later when they got back to their room. Ronon was exhausted and still angry for no ascertainable reason. Every time he sneezed, he got madder. Teyla turned back the covers in the bed and instructed him out of his wet outer clothes. He complied, too tired to fight anymore, and crawled wearily into bed._

_He coughed as she spooned up his medicine and took it with a scowl on his face. She deposited the bottle and spoon nearby and sat on the edge of the bed. "Go finish the mission." His voice was scratchy._

_She pressed a hand to his forehead, checking his temperature but then she pushed back at his hair, ran a gentle hand down his cheek. "Not until you fall asleep and I call Dr. Beckett again."_

_He swallowed, let his eyes fall closed and tried to ignore the great pressure in his head. He felt her small hand brush against his and he opened his eyes, just for a moment, grasped her hand tighter and felt a tiny bit of warmth flow through him, he felt his anger start to melt away._

_They would both later chalk it up to the fever and the medicine but just as sleep claimed him, he said something that he had wanted to say since he met her. He breathed it, a whisper she tried to convince herself she had misheard. "Stay with me, Teyla."_

**

* * *

**Ronon leaned against the door frame at the entrance to Teyla's room. He was taking what Elizabeth said about her needing a friendly face seriously and it was habit now, spending the better portion of his days with her. More than that, it was habit to allow himself this moment, just before she welcomed him in. This moment to lean against the door frame, trying to look as casual as possible, one ankle crossed over the other, arms folded across his chest. He drank in her sight. 

She was a creature of routine and he came to her at nearly the same time everyday. She had given him total access to her room but unless she looked like she was in pain or asked him in, he waited and he watched her. She was getting better. It was a slow and painful process, her recovery, but she never complained. He had seen the traces of fatigue in her eyes after a long session of physical therapy. He had watched as she buried her frustration at the slow progress with her shoulder and leg. She wanted to fight again, she wanted to be free of pain and full of life again.

Teyla looked up from the book she was reading and smiled at Ronon. "Come in, I lost track of the time."

The bruises were gone now. Some of them had healed quickly, before she was released from the hospital. The ones that had been bone deep, a result of repeated blows had taken longer. Other wounds didn't heal so well. New scars would be added to those she had already carried.

He wondered now, as he moved to sit on the edge of her bed, which scars bothered her the most. Was it the ones on her face? Three deep lines expertly stitched closed. They were still angry looking and the shiny new flesh only made them stand out more. Was it the marks on her back? Only a few stitches had been required there but Ronon had seen her back, she would carry those scars forever. Maybe the one on her calf bothered her. The deep cut went from knee to ankle and it had given Dr. Beckett a bit of trouble when he had to treat it. Her arm was scarred from the burns, darker patches where the skin was too smooth. Only a couple of the cuts on her breasts and stomach had been deep enough to scar but her surgeries had added additional scars to her shoulder, leg, and stomach.

They didn't matter to him at all, of course. Teyla had noted once, quietly, almost embarrassed but with a hint of irritation in her voice, that no one really looked at her when she talked anymore. It was guilt, he knew. They had all thought she was dead and living with the fact that they had given up, inadvertently played a part in her injuries outweighed their relief that she was alive. The scars, the wheel chair, the protruding bones and weary eyes all just reminded them of their failure.

He though, he had seen her injuries when they were fresh, had seen her unconscious and weepy. He had watched her face as she described what was done to her. If the scars meant she was healing, then he welcomed them.

Ronon shook his thoughts away and picked up the book she had set down. "Why aren't you doing your exercises?"

Teyla leaned against the pillows propped behind her. "I woke early."

"Where is Elaine?"

"She knew you were coming and she did not want to hover over me while I was reading."

Ronon flipped through the pages of her book, careful to keep her place marked with one finger. "Did you have trouble sleeping last night?"

"My legs are aching."

He said nothing, only nodded. He flipped over the book. "Is this one any good?"

Teyla shrugged carefully. "It is one of Dr. Weir's. I find it much more interesting than the last one."

"Did you ever finish that one?" He shifted around to sit more fully on her bed.

"No, I stopped and read the end."

He smiled at her. "Told Dr. Weir you liked it, didn't you?"

"It is nice of them all to bring me entertainment." She gestured toward the pile of diversions on her desk. There were comic books from Sheppard, more books from Weir, crossword puzzles from Beckett. Next to her bed sat the laptop Rodney had brought for her. To her barely masked surprise, he had sat with her for hours, patiently teaching her how to use each function.

"They worry," he said simply. "Did you write in your journal?" He asked with a little grin.

She scowled at him for knowing her well enough to call her out. "What do you think, Ronon?"

"I think Heightmeyer is not going to clear you if you don't start doing what she wants."

She sighed. "You are right. I just do not feel like writing about everything. It is bad enough to constantly have to talk about it with her. I would like to write about something I actually want to remember."

Ronon shrugged. "So write about something else."

Teyla smiled. "This from the man who broke his cane rather than use it."

He scowled and stood to place the book next to the laptop. "I didn't use the crutches, why did they think I would use the cane?" He turned to face her then, "Let's take a walk."

* * *

The balcony they favored was in a rarely used part of the city. He liked to take her on long meandering walks and it was a long one to this balcony. He locked her wheel chair and watched her eyes fall shut as she breathed in the clean, crisp morning air. 

"Ready?" He asked as he held his hands out to her.

She grinned up at him, a genuine smile that reached her eyes. She placed her hand in his and let him tug her up to a standing position. She rested her weight on her left leg, the one that had been cut and she only winced briefly. He helped her get her good arm into the little cuff of her crutch.

"How does that feel?"

She sighed and smiled again. "Wonderful." She had been devastated when Dr. Beckett had told her that she could only use her crutch to walk during physical therapy and maybe for a few extra minutes each day. She was tried of the wheel chair, of depending on everyone else, and having freedom dangled in front of her, only to have restrictions placed on it was hard to swallow.

Her broken leg was still in a cast but Dr. Beckett had given her a sandal-like thing to wear so that she could walk a bit on the cast. She could only use one crutch because her shoulder was not strong enough to use a second one.

Ronon placed a hand at the small of her back, ready to catch her if she should stumble. She looked at her feet and walked slowly. Physical therapy was getting her used to putting weight on her legs again but Dr. Beckett told Ronon that he could help her practice walking a bit each day. "What did you do yesterday?" She concentrated on putting one foot carefully in front of the other.

She had a busy day the day before and they didn't see each other. "Dr. Heightmeyer." He made a face at her that had her chuckling. "Then I hitched a ride to the mainland."

"Oh?"

"Halling asked me to go visit."

"How is everyone?" Halling had visited her in the infirmary, but other than that, she had not seen any of her people in months. She couldn't wait to go see them all but she knew that it was impractical until she could walk better.

"Good. Almost harvest time." He paused as he helped her turn around to start walking the other way. "I might give them a hand with the harvest."

She stopped and looked at him. He could be such a nice man. He ducked his head down a bit as he shifted her sling back to its proper place on her shoulder. "Maybe you can come too." Their eyes locked and he saw relief there, she wanted to get out of the city. But as her eyes got lost in his, as his hand drifted from its place on her shoulder down her arm, he saw something else in her eyes. He saw her eyes darken just a bit, saw them flick down to his lips before she drew a bit of her bottom lip into her mouth and dragged her gaze back up to meet his.

She knew it had been cowardly, avoiding what had been brewing between them before she was taken. But the both of them had seemed content to focus on getting better. They danced around each other, settling back into being friends before facing what was becoming the inevitable. So it would be impossible to know who was more surprised when her lips pressed against his. He got over his surprise pretty quickly and settled in to enjoy the kiss. He pulled her closer, her hands were restrained by a sling and a crutch but he didn't think twice as he circled his arms around her and lifted her up slightly to take the weight off of her injured legs and pull her up closer to his height. "There is something about this balcony." He muttered between kisses.

He felt her smile against his lips and he deepened the kiss. He leaned back against the railing and she worked her arm out of the crutch. He felt a tentative hand dance up his back moments after he heard the crutch clatter to the ground.

Teyla broke off the kiss and laid her head on his shoulder. She smiled and placed a gentle hand on his cheek as he kissed her neck. "Teyla," His voice rumbled against her neck. "I can't go back to pretending this isn't happening."

"No," She breathed as she realized how at peace she felt in that moment, how unfair they had been being to each other. "No, we should not."

He pulled away, gave her a little mischievous smile. "Maybe you will have something to write about in your journal now."

She smiled as he helped steady her on her feet, as he helped her with her crutch. For the first time since her whole ordeal, she didn't have pain or fear in the back of her mind. She wasn't remembering what had happened or willing her legs to work better. Instead, she was thinking of this, of Ronon and as he focused on her feet, on helping her walk again, she thought that maybe he was right. She would have something to put in that journal now.

* * *

Note: This chapter was a bit of a gift for the Teyla/Ronon fans. Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, or a Happy Kwanzaa. Be safe and eat a lot! Now review! New chapter on Thursday. -Brynna 


	15. Chapter 14: Surrender

Disclaimer: I still don't own SGA.

Note: I'm back! I severely broke my hand around Christmas and have been dealing with surgeries and stuff ever since. I couldn't type until recently but I think I have delivered a nice long chapter for you guys full of Teyla/Ronon goodness. There are spoilers in this one for Sateda.

**Chapter 14 - Surrender**

_Sometimes, after a particularly long or rough mission, Teyla liked nothing more than to take a long shower and then sit with her feet up and watch the waves outside her window._

_No one would argue that Sateda had been as hellish as they came. Losing Ronon was hard and she was prepared to go find him alone if John and Elizabeth didn't want to spend the time to search for someone who wasn't from Earth. She pulled her thick robe tighter around her form as she sipped her hot tea. She was tired but adrenaline from the day's events was keeping her awake._

_She was a little surprised when she heard her name from behind her. His voice was gruff with fatigue and he leaned heavily against her doorframe, waiting for permission to enter. Ronon often came to her room after missions to discuss or unwind but she certainly wasn't expecting him after the day he had._

_She dropped her feet and beckoned him in with a wave of her hand. "How are you feeling?"_

"_Drained." He answered honestly as he dropped to her bed. His hands gripped the edge as if he was holding on to keep from falling over._

"_You should get some rest."  
_

"_I will." He swallowed and looked at his feet. "I never expected to be back there."_

_She turned to face him more fully, understanding that his mind was still mulling over everything that had transpired. "It must have been difficult."_

_He nodded, his face tired and a little defeated. "A lot of memories. Ghosts." He shook his head, realizing that he shouldn't talk about it while his defenses were down. They sat in companionable silence for a time as he struggled to find the words he had come to say._

"_Ronon." He looked up at her when she leaned forward and touched his knee. "You should go to bed."_

"_Yeah." He shifted his legs back, ready to stand but instead he blurted out exactly what he wanted to say. "I – thanks. It means a lot that you came to Sateda."_

_She stood as he did and surprised him by wrapping her arms around him. Her cheek was pressed to his chest and she whispered. "There is nothing that could have stopped me." His arms rose from his sides slowly to hug her back. "You have friends here, Ronon." She pulled away to meet his tired gaze. "I am glad you are safe."_

_He smiled, real and genuine and she was sure she could see some of those ghosts leaving his eyes. "Do you want to spar tomorrow?"_

_She shook her head at the sudden change of topic. "If you are feeling well enough."_

_He nodded and turned to leave but he turned back when he reached her door. "I'd have come for you, too."_

_Teyla nodded, her voice confident. "I know."_

* * *

McKay was hunched over a desk. Information from Dr. Jackson at Stargate Command was spread before him along with photos, a couple of books and some playing cards. Radek was sitting nearby working through other evidence. 

Rodney entered something into his laptop and his face lit up. "I got it! I got it!"

"Got what, Rodney?" Radek asked as he stood to peer at the screen of the laptop.

"The name of the planet."

"Is it in the database?"

"Well…I don't know yet. But I figured out the name!"

Radek looked only mildly impressed as Rodney left the room to find someone who would give him proper praise.

"I figured it out," he said to Elizabeth proudly as he caught up with her on the stairs.

"Good. Figured what out?"

He sighed. "The name of the planet."

"Is it in the database?"

"I don't know yet but –"

She rushed passed him. "Let me know if it's in the database."

He watched her walk away for a second before he saw Dr. Beckett disappearing down a corridor. "Hey Carson! I figured it out!" He called as he rushed after him.

"What was that all about?" John asked Elizabeth as he caught up with her.

"Rodney figured out the name of the planet."

"Ah. Have you decided yet?"

Elizabeth sighed as she continued her brisk pace. They had still been able to get precious little out of their prisoner and they were revisiting John's original idea of letting him go and tracking him. "I am still considering the options." She opened the door to her office and moved to her desk to shuffle through papers. "I am having Dr. Beckett give him a physical tomorrow. He'll plant the tracking device then."

John tucked his hands in his pockets and leaned against the door jam. "Then what?"

"Then I'll have a week to decide."

"A week?"

"While Teyla and Ronon are on the mainland." Elizabeth found what she was looking for and started to move around her desk. "I don't want Ronon running into Cayus."

"Probably smart." He stepped aside as she started past him. "Where are you off to?"

"I'm late for lunch with Teyla. I'll find you later."

* * *

"So are you excited about your trip?" Elizabeth watched her friend over her cup of tea. 

Teyla nodded and smiled. "It will be nice to leave the city for a time."

Elizabeth and Teyla had been diligent about keeping their weekly appointment since Teyla's return to Atlantis. "You are looking better."

Teyla smiled. "I am. I am pleased to be rid of the wheel chair and the stitches."

"You and Ronon have been working pretty hard lately."

"Dr. Beckett said he would only allow me to leave if I was out of the wheel chair." She had been exercising more and more every day, practicing with her crutches, and doing more things on her own. Something about having a concrete goal made her push herself even harder. "Ronon will be cleared soon."

"You two have been spending even more time than usual together."

Teyla's gaze flicked down to her food and she smiled shyly, her fork hovering over her salad. "Yes."

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. She had never seen Teyla look shy. Angry, yes. Scared, yes. But never shy. "Teyla…" A smile was beginning to form on her own face. "What's this?"

Teyla glanced up and her gaze flicked back to her plate. "Do not pretend that you do not know."

Elizabeth couldn't stop grinning. "I had an idea." She pushed at her food. "So things are good, then?"

"New. It is all very new."

Elizabeth decided not to push even though she so very badly wanted to. "Well, I am happy for you. The both of you."

Teyla hooked her long hair behind her ear. "Thank you." She shook her head slightly, as if pleased to be finished with that conversation. "What about you? I have not seen much of you lately."

"We have all been working on figuring out more information on your captors."

Teyla had been avoiding asking questions about how the search for information was going but as she was healing, as Ronon was healing, she was starting to get curious. "Are things going well?"

"No." Elizabeth was blunt. "Everything is moving too slowly. We are working on a couple of plans but…"

"They were very careful." She paused, picked at her food. "Would it help if I spoke to the prisoner?"

Elizabeth considered it, quickly weighed the pros and cons, weighed the friendship against the leadership. Friendship won. "Not an option."

Teyla sipped her drink, pushed again at her hair. "The offer will stand, if you change your mind."

Elizabeth nodded. She wanted to change the subject to something sunnier, to something other than work. "So, about you and Ronon…"

* * *

Teyla was more than slightly excited as she finished packing her bag. A week on the mainland, a week with her people and away from physical therapy and Dr. Heightmeyer and stale air. A whole week. 

Ronon was stretched out on her bed. Someone had switched her narrow cot for a larger bed while she was still in the hospital and Ronon took great pleasure in the fact that his feet didn't hang off the end. He had his little hand-held computing device near his face and he was intently trying to beat his high score at his puzzle game.

Teyla closed the flap on her bag and did up the buckles. She eased a hip onto the bed and propped herself next to Ronon. She had seen him play the game countless times in the infirmary but she still did not understand the rules or the appeal. "Are you winning?"

"Of course."

"We must leave soon."

He turned off the computer without a word of protest. He wasn't concerned with losing his score, he could always get there again later. He turned to Teyla, her smile was infectious. She needed this break, unable to resist, he leaned up and kissed her gently.

The weeks leading up to their trip to the mainland were a blur of exercise, therapy, and each other. They were both pushing themselves in workouts and physical therapy, both starting to quickly feel more like their old selves. Ronon had extra sessions with Dr. Heightmeyer as he got closer to being cleared for active duty.

Their relationship was locked in a sort of dance. They had both acknowledged their feelings and now they had to figure out what that meant for them. The dance was something that neither was particularly familiar with. Ronon had simply been away from normal human interaction far too long to remember how it all went, this push and pull in the days before the surrender, the inevitable fall. Teyla, with the exception of one very notable relationship, had always been too busy, too driven, too worried about everyone else to have ever taken the time to learn these steps for herself. She had trysts, mutual pleasure that lasted a day, a week. But this, this standing on the precipice of something big, something real and important, something life-changing, this she was unfamiliar with.

Teyla didn't quite know how to put all her trust in someone else, how to be weak and open and vulnerable. She knew he would want that, that he would want everything. Ronon was a man that you didn't hold back from and in knowing that, Teyla found herself wishing that she could have it both ways. That she could have the trust and still keep up her walls, that she could have the passion and still keep her serene façade, that she could have the best friend and the man.

The time Teyla and Ronon spent together had a new kind of tension marring the ease they had developed. Neither really wanted to have a conversation about where they stood or what it meant. Under normal circumstances, Ronon would have no trouble initiating intimacy, moving things forward, but this was different. This was _Teyla._

She smiled at him as he pulled away from her. She was still a bit surprised when he kissed her, when he touched her, or said something uncharacteristically sweet. She had meant what she said to Dr. Weir. It all felt very new.

Ronon stood and stretched his long legs. Teyla followed suit and shut her laptop, glanced around her room to make sure she had everything she needed. "Ready?" Ronon asked as he lifted Teyla's bag and reached a hand out to help her up.

She nodded as she stood and took his hand. She took her cane and smiled as his hand settled at the small of her back. As they started out of her room, he dropped his hand and took a visible step away from her. She raised an eyebrow, amusement written plainly across her face. "Reputation." He muttered.

"Of course." She said, laughter evident in her voice. It was a kind of game they were playing. They wanted to keep their relationship between the two of them for the time being but each seemed to have fun teasing the other about the need for that secrecy.

She smiled as they moved through the halls of Atlantis toward the puddle jumper that was waiting to take them to the mainland. She moved with slightly less grace than was normal. She was healing quickly now. She still used crutches or a cane when her legs got sore but the wheel chair and sling were long gone.

His hand found her back again as she stepped into the puddle jumper. He was a steady force, ready to catch her if she should fall. It didn't make her feel weak, like she would have imagined, instead, she felt cared for, wanted.

Ronon smiled as she closed her fingers around his and squeezed briefly as he helped her into her seat. He settled behind her as the pilot assigned to transport duty touched the controls and prepared for flight.

* * *

The trip was mercifully short but Teyla was fidgety with excitement. Ronon watched as she leaned forward as the little village came into view. Her eyes scanned the tents and buildings as they grew larger in the window. People were moving about and some stopped to look up at the approaching puddle jumper. 

The pilot landed easily as a crowd formed around the small ship. The pilot promised they would be picked up in a week before he took off again. Teyla was immediately swept away by her people leaving Ronon holding the bags and smiling after her.

Halling appeared next to Ronon. "They are happy to have her back."

"She is happy to be here. She has been excited."

Halling stood quietly next to Ronon as they watched Teyla. "I know you said you do not want thanks but you should know–"

"Halling –" Ronon interrupted.

"Let me finish." Halling's voice was calm and Ronon nodded. "You bringing her back to us means more than you know. I know your people are mostly gone but you will always be welcome among the Athosians."

Ronon kept his gaze trained on Teyla. "I didn't do it for the Athosians." She caught his gaze, gave him a happy smile that had a grin spreading across his own face.

Halling nodded, understanding. "The reason you did it does not matter. Let us go drop off your bags. We have harvesting to do."

* * *

She was watching the waves. They looked completely different from the beach then they did from the city. The tide had shifted recently and the spot of sand that she was sitting on had been underwater not so long ago. 

The darkness of night still haunted her from time to time. She had trouble separating the memories from reality but when she could see the moon, everything made sense again.

Teyla could hear the brush moving behind her but she didn't turn. She knew who it was. She could feel him watching her and it made her smile. "Are you done in for the day?"

He nodded and dropped to the ground beside her. His shoulder bumped hers. "What're you doing out here?"

"I like it here."

He picked up a small rock that had been worn smooth by the waves. "How are you feeling?"

She shrugged. "I am fine, Ronon." Because it seemed natural, she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Maybe a little tired."

He wrapped his arm around her back and pulled her a bit closer. "It's been a long day." He was telling the truth. The men of the village had been in the fields all day while Teyla and the rest of the women worked to process what the men picked and gathered. When she got sore, Teyla helped the elders cook. She was tired. She had gotten used to her routine, to days of long silences. But here, she was expected to speak, to help where she was needed, to make herself useful. She loved it as much as she was exhausted by it.

Teyla turned her nose into Ronon's shoulder when she caught a whiff of something flowery. "You smell good."

"I washed up before I came to find you."

"Smart." She turned her face up and gave him a small smile.

He touched her face gently and she blinked in surprise, let her own serious expression match his. His eyes were locked on hers, his fingers making gentle patterns along her jaw. "You're beautiful." He blurted it out in a fervent whisper, as if he couldn't hold it in any longer. "That was what I thought the first time I saw you."

It wasn't the most eloquent thing she had ever heard but given that Ronon only used words when he had to, she knew he meant it, that it wasn't just some affected words to win her favor.

She covered his hand with her own. "You are a very nice man."

"Not many people would agree."

"There are times when I would not have agreed." She smiled again. "I was wrong."

She turned back to watch the water and her head again was cushioned on his firm shoulder. His hand was settled low on her waist as he held her close to him. It wasn't long before he felt her head grow heavier on his shoulder. "Come on, Teyla." He nudged her gently. "Let's head back."

She nodded tiredly and moaned just a little when he helped her to her feet. She was limping heavily as they walked across the uneven terrain. "Are you sore?"

"Yes. I was on my feet all day."

"We'll take care of it when we get back." She nodded, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other.

They were soon in front of the little dwelling that Teyla and other inhabitants from Atlantis stayed in while on the mainland. It was a little house on the very edge of town built by people from Earth and as such, it did not quite match the Athosian dwellings.

Teyla was exhausted as she changed into her night clothes. She winced as she settled onto the bed, her legs cramping painfully as she settled them in front of her. She extended her arms behind her to prop her into a sitting position.

Ronon sat next to her, near her ankles. He placed one foot in his lap and pushed the leg of her loose-fitting pants up past her knee. He touched her ankle softly before moving to her calf and letting his strong fingers knead the knotted muscle.

He had done this before, in the training room after a hard workout or physical therapy, but it had always been clinical. People were usually around and it was simply one warrior helping another.

But this was different.

They were alone, on a bed. His hands lingered and took their time. The massage seemed to alternate between his normal kneading and simple caresses. He moved to her foot and grinned as her eyes closed and her back arched just a bit. He worked the tension out of her instep before switching legs.

"Tomorrow, you should take it a little easier."

She shook her head, her eyes still closed as his thumb made gentle circles at the back of her knee. "Not if this is what I get when I push myself."

It was the boldness of what she said that had Ronon stilling his actions, blinking a couple of times before moving up her body. She opened her eyes as she felt the bed shift, only to see that Ronon had scooted up the bed. She hooked a hand behind his neck and pulled him down to kiss her. He placed a hand on the other side of her so that he was leaning over her.

The kisses were urgent and as Teyla's other arm wrapped around Ronon, he lowered her easily to the bed. They lost track of time as he moved over her, as clothes were pushed aside and the air became hot and thick.

They both knew that there was nothing stopping them from taking the next step. They were both unattached adults but there was one thing Teyla was thinking as she pushed away, panting. "I want us to be friends."

He shook his head to clear it and raised himself off her just a bit. "What?"

"If this does not work out, I want us to be friends."

"We will be." He touched her face, already preparing himself to go back to his room alone.

"This will complicate things."

"We are past complicated. For me, it's been complicated for two years." She touched his face and he turned his lips into her palm. "But it's up to you. Whenever you are ready."

She smiled and leaned up to kiss him. "I did not say I was not ready. I said I want us to be friends."

He kissed her, his eyes darkening and his voice turning gruff. His hand worked its way under her shirt and she felt chills run down her spine as he whispered into her ear. "How about more than friends?"

* * *

Note: See, they weren't supposed to have sex in this chapter. I don't know what happened. I guess they had other plans. Anyway, Chapter 15 is on the way. I am still not typing at full speed so look for a chapter a week instead of two a week like I was churning out before. Now you know the drill, Review!!! -Brynna 


	16. Chapter 15: Disquiet

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

A/N: I actually had this done for awhile but ffn would not let me upload for whatever reason. Anyway, enjoy!

****

Chapter 15 - Disquiet

Laughter floated through the trees and reached Ronon's ears as he started back toward the campsite. He felt uncomfortable for a brief moment as he approached his friends. It was easy to forget that he belonged there, that these were his friends too.

Teyla grinned up at him as he dropped to the ground beside her. "Rodney just told us the story of his first kiss."

"It was quite the cautionary tale." John leaned back against a log and crossed his arms.

"Oh ha ha. Not everyone knows what to do with their hands the first time."

Ronon couldn't help a smile as he listened to John and Rodney bicker. "Do I even want to know what he did with his hands?" Ronon asked Teyla quietly.

"Probably not." Teyla pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms loosely around them. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Is there a good story behind your first kiss?" She had a gentle smile on her face and as he glanced at her, he wondered if there was anything that he wouldn't tell her in that moment.

"Better story behind my last kiss." He said with a sly smile.

She glanced quickly at their teammates across the campfire as her cheeks reddened. "Ronon." She muttered, even though they could both see that Rodney and John were busy ribbing each other.

He grinned as he watched the light from the fire flicker across her face. The wind picked up and lifted her hair as leaves fluttered all around them. She brushed impatiently at errant wisps of hair and gave him an expectant look.

"My first kiss?" He shrugged and picked up a stick from the ground. He peeled the bark off idly and twirled the naked stick between his fingers. "I was ten. She was my neighbor and we kissed on a dare."

"Not the most romantic first kiss." Teyla smiled.

"Whose is?" Ronon fiddled with the stick and watched Teyla push again at her hair.

"Mine was." She smiled wistfully at the memory of the boy she would eventually love. Of nerves and hands they didn't know what to do with and the laughter they shared as they figured it out together.

"Yeah?"

Teyla nodded and watched as Ronon tossed his stick into the fire. "We were twelve and we had just decided that we did not dislike each other like we thought. We were walking in the woods and he took my hand and he kissed me."

"It was good?"

"I did not say good, I said romantic. It was the first of many." She looked briefly down at her hands before meeting Ronon's eyes again, seemingly readying herself to mention something she had always purposefully avoided bringing up. "We were together for years."

"Wraith?" He asked, already sure of the answer.

"Yes."

He nodded, understanding in a way that only someone whose life had been irrevocably changed by the Wraith could. He didn't say he was sorry for her loss or that his neighbor, the first girl he kissed was killed by the Wraith too.

As he looked across the fire and watched John and Rodney banter with each other, he suddenly realized that for all their differences, he and Teyla really had a lot in common. He couldn't imagine life on Atlantis without someone else who knew what it was like to live with constant tragedy.

But the Atlantis expedition had turned the tide for their lives. Suddenly they were in a position to really strike back against the Wraith. So as they sat in the woods, poised to go into the bustling trading village the next day, Ronon thought that maybe, just maybe, their days of tragedy were behind them.

* * *

He rocked against her gently. The muscles of one arm were taut as he held himself over her. His other hand was settled gently on her thigh. She was moaning slightly, her eyes closed and her hands gripping his biceps. 

As he neared completion, he moved his hand up her body and cupped her face, coaxing her eyes to open. He kissed her insistently before locking his gaze with hers. She ran a hand over his cheek, her hand skimming over his tense jaw, and nodded, giving him permission to continue on. She slid her arm around his back so she could pull him closer.

Their eyes were locked as they moved together more quickly. It was exactly what he had always imagined with her and it was nothing like he had imagined. The first time he had seen her fight, he wondered what it would be like to take her to bed. Improper, he knew, but it _had_ been seven years. Honestly though, he doubted men thought of much else when they saw her in her sparring outfit.

What he couldn't imagine was how right it would feel, how well they would fit together. He couldn't imagine that he would feel so protective or try so hard to be gentle.

He liked the way she curled against him after, her body limp and her face glowing. She pushed at hair that was longer than normal and swiped at the tendrils that stuck stubbornly to her face.

Ronon kissed the top of her head and held her close. They both knew he would shift away the moment he fell asleep so it seemed right to hold her now. "We could have been doing this for two years."

She laughed a little and sighed. "I do not believe it would have been the same."

"Have a feeling it would have been pretty good."

She kissed the smooth skin near the puckered scar at his shoulder. "Perhaps."

He wrapped his arm tighter around her naked form and stretched his legs out with a satisfied sigh. He felt her leg draw up against his and he settled his free hand there, letting his body turn slightly.

Her eyes were open as his lids began to grow heavy. A contented little smile had replaced his normal intense glare. "I enjoy seeing you so relaxed."

His smile grew as his eyes began to close. "I enjoy being this relaxed."

Their week was nearly up. The next day was a day of rest and celebration for the successful harvest and then Teyla and Ronon would return to the city the following day. The week was less of a vacation and more of an endurance test. They spent all day helping the Athosians and all night in each other's arms. When they slept, they slept deeply and soundly but it never seemed to be long enough. Still, they would each say that they felt refreshed, that the week had been a success.

Neither knew how things were going to change when they returned to the city and though they knew the most couples would talk about it, would figure out where they stood, they both knew they would find their way.

* * *

The slept soundly for hours. The sounds of Lantea filtering in through the closed shutters. As expected, he had shifted away from her in sleep. Years of living on the run had made him too light of a sleeper to sleep close. He liked all his senses to be on alert while he slept. The brief hours of sleep in the cave were one thing, he had needed to believe she was real that night. But in general, the habits of the life he had lead for seven years were hard to break. Teyla had noticed, during the week, that Ronon had gradually started to keep more contact with her while he slept. She didn't know if it was greater trust or the ability to lower her defenses with her but as she woke up to the feeling of his hand settled lightly on her hip, she could only smile. 

She moved his hand gently and soothed him back to sleep when he woke with a start. She slipped into a thin robe and stretched her aching muscles. She touched her stomach as she moved to get cleaned up and find some food. The scar there was still tender from time to time but she was feeling so much better as a whole.

Teyla wondered what was going on in the Atlantis as she watched the sun rise over the water from an open wondow. Usually she felt torn when she was with her people. She wanted to give them her time and care, but she always felt like she was missing something back in the city.

This visit was different. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she hadn't been able to do anything with the team for so long or perhaps it was the fact that she and Ronon were so wrapped up in each other but, either way, she had hardly thought of the city at all. It was only in these quiet moments that she had to herself that she wondered what everyone was up to.

She brushed her hair out of her face and moved to finish getting dressed. Teyla shoved aside her forgotten journal as she searched her bag for a hair tie. She glanced at the book as she pulled her hair back. She had gotten better about writing in it but during her week on the mainland, she hadn't even taken it out of her bag. She picked up the book on a whim and moved toward the little table in the kitchen area. A bowl of fruit was sitting in the middle and she grabbed a piece before settling down.

She hadn't even brought a pen over so she settled in and opened the book to the first page. _"I do not know where to start."_ That was the first sentence she had written. She spoke of the pain for pages, sometimes she mentioned nightmares or what she did for the day, and then suddenly, all she wrote about was Ronon.

"How do I write about something that I cannot even speak about? He treats me with more care than I thought him capable but I can see the tension there. He has all this built up energy that he does not seem to know what to do with. Sometimes, when he looks at me, I think he knows exactly how he wants to get rid of that energy. Sometimes, I think he just wants to go fight some wraith. Either way, I will be glad when life is normal again."

She smiled at her own words. She was right about the way he had been looking at her. It was strange how long ago every entry seemed. She rarely mentioned her pain or the bad memories once she started writing about Ronon and as she flipped through the pages, she remembered things that she had so quickly forgotten.

"What're you doing?"

She turned slightly to smile at a bleary eyed Ronon. "Reading." She held up her journal as an explanation. He tugged a shirt over his bare chest as he moved to join her at the table.

"Aren't you supposed to be writing in it?" He liked to tease her about how much she hated doing Dr. Heightmeyer's homework.

"I suppose I was feeling a bit nostalgic this morning."

Ronon reached for a piece of fruit. "Anything good?"

"Do you remember when I said that someday we would not be able to remember the pain we felt? I was not aware, at the time, that it was you who would make me forget."

She smiled at his quick grin but he sobered quickly. "Can I tell you something?"

Teyla frowned; it was unusual for Ronon to preface his statements. "Of course."

"I am _really_ ready to fight again." She laughed then, caught off guard by his change of subject.

He bit into his fruit and grinned around his full mouth. "I am too. You will be cleared very soon."

"This week went by fast."

Teyla nodded and fiddled with the edge of her book. "This might be the first time that I am not really ready to get back."

"Teyla." He waited for her gaze to meet his. "Nothing is going to change."

She smiled and glanced again at her fingers as they fiddled with her book. Despite his words to the contrary, she had a nagging feeling that they would be better off staying right where they were.

* * *

Elizabeth was in turmoil as she watched John and several marines lead Cayus toward the gate. He was cuffed and shackled and his shuffling steps somehow still managed to appear haughty. It was probably more security than they needed but she wasn't taking and chances. 

She moved down the stairs toward the gate, still unsure if this was the right move. It was a feeling she had felt before while leading the Atlantis expedition. Uncertainty was more commonplace than a clear and obvious path. Outwardly, she stood firm in her decisions, but inside, she was always second-guessing, always wondering if there wasn't a better path.

Cayus's trademark smirk was planted on his face as Elizabeth met him. John had his hand on his gun as he moved to stand close to her. The marines that flanked him held onto his upper arms, intent on stopping him, should he make any sudden moves.

"So this is it? You are letting me go?"

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "What good is there in keeping you here?"

His smirk grew. "Where is the tracking device?"

She smiled back and ignored his question. "You will be escorted through a series of gates and then you will be left on your own." She started to step away but she stopped instead. "Cayus, I _never_ want to see you again."

"And I thought we were becoming friends, Dr. Weir." He grinned as she turned and walked away.

The marines pushed him toward the gate as Elizabeth signaled the start of the dialing sequence.

John turned back to give her one last look as the gate came alive. She couldn't hide her concern from him and as she watched him disappear through the ring, she couldn't shake the feeling that this whole ordeal was far from over.

* * *

Note: So there's a bit of a transition chapter for you. Just so you know where we are at, it is looking like there will be seven more chapters and an Epilogue of this story but that is tentative. My muses could still take me in a completely different direction. 

In happy news, this story was nominated for a 2007 Isis Award. You can find the link to the site in my profile if you want to vote. _Sparring_ is under the Ronon/other category. It totally sucks that there is no dedicated Ronon/Teyla category this year because I know there are a lot of great fics out there. While you are at the site, check out the other nominees, there are some good ones. Thanks to whoever nominated me and thanks to anyone who feels inclined to vote.

Now review! -Brynna


	17. Chapter 16: Torrent

Disclaimer: I don't own SGA. Fanfiction means I'm a fan.

**Chapter 16 – Torrent**

_Ronon was not a jealous man. Things usually worked out in his favor and if they didn't, well they just didn't. Something about Teyla changed him. When he saw her chatting with other men or spending time with them, he felt the unwelcome and unpleasant sting of jealousy._

_It wasn't always that way. When he first met her, he had thought she was beautiful but he caught definite vibes between her and John. It was only once he got to know her, when he discovered her flaws and her fire beneath her serene exterior; it was only then that he started to feel the jealousy._

_He wanted her. That had been true from the start. But it was more than that. As he got to know her, as he became her friend, he wanted her time, wanted her to want him back._

_She was friendly as a rule and could be a little oblivious to the attentions of men. New marines often turned up to watch her spar and Ronon knew from experience that they were paying a lot more attention to what her outfit did to her body than to her expert fighting. Sometimes they would talk to her after, a hand drifting a little too familiarly to her shoulder or back and he would feel his blood boil. He would concentrate on appearing calm, his clenched fists hidden by his crossed arms, his taut muscles disguised by his casual stance. In truth he was ready to pounce._

_It was foolish, he knew. She always brushed them off with a kind smile and turned to Ronon. When she looked at him, the kind half smile would turn to a genuine one and his jealousy would melt away and leave him feeling dumb._

_He never told her about Melena but he wondered if she would be jealous. There were others too but none that really mattered. She never told him much about the men in her past either and other than the story of her first kiss, she kept that entire part of her life to herself._

_So it was a surprise when Teyla knocked on Ronon's door one day. He let her in and she moved around the room restlessly. "What's going on?" He tracked her progress around his room, wondering why she wasn't perched in his chair like she usually was when she came to visit._

"_Would you like to spar?"_

_He nodded but paused before moving toward the door. "Are you alright?"_

_She looked tired or irritated. He wasn't sure but he knew that an irritated Teyla made for a very formidable sparring partner. "One of the marines asked me to eat lunch with him tomorrow."_

_He felt the jealousy kick him hard in the gut. Just a flash that had his fists clenching and his eyes narrowing before he reminded himself that she didn't belong to him. Despite his best efforts to calm himself and loosen his jaw, he spit out through clenched teeth, "Then what's the problem?"_

_She looked at him, her own eyes narrowing, her hand brushing idly at the hair on the side of her face. "Nothing. Would you like to spar or not?"_

_Now she was definitely irritated. He took another moment, forced his voice to calm. "If you'd like, or you could tell me what's wrong." He gave her a little smile. "Spare me a few bruises."_

_She sighed, the scowl on her face lessening as she eyed the gentle smile on his face. "He asked me to lunch and I agreed. Then I went back to tell him that we needed to meet a bit earlier so I could attend the briefing and he was talking about me to his friends."_

"_What? Like how?" His smile was fading as realization set in._

"_Like he was bragging, like asking me was a joke."_

"_Who was it?" He spoke through teeth that were clenched anew._

_Teyla smiled gently, her own anger starting to fade just a bit. "There is a reason I did not say his name." She paused as he raised an eyebrow. "I do not understand why men from Earth engage in this 'locker room talk.'"_

"'_Locker room talk'?"_

"_That's what Elizabeth calls it. When the men talk about the women that way."_

"_It's not just men from Earth that do that, Teyla."_

_Her brow furrowed, perhaps the Athosian men were more careful around her. "Then why did you get angry?"_

"_Because I don't want anyone talking about you like that." He paused for only a moment before hastily adding. "Or Elizabeth, or any of my friends. Now who was it?"_

"_Does it matter?"_

"_Now I'm trying to save you some bruises, Teyla. I'd like to hit something before we spar."_

_She smiled. "I am still angry. I believe we are evenly matched now."_

_Teyla started for his door and Ronon followed closely behind. "If I find out who it was…"_

_She ignored him and walked down the corridor toward the training room. She could tell by his stride that he was still very angry but he focused on looking nonchalant as he shot glares at every Marine that passed. "On Sateda," She started slowly, wondering if this was an area she had any right to tread._

"_Yeah?"_

"_Whoever you had…" She let the words trail, not even sure what she wanted to say._

_He grunted, more than sure that he didn't want to talk about Melena._

_She took the grunt as acknowledgement and continued on. "She was lucky to have you."_

* * *

Despite feeling a bit of trepidation about returning to Atlantis, Teyla found that her days with Ronon following their trip to the mainland were just as magical. They had a certain heightened sense of reality, as if she was just about to wake up so that her life could return to the normalcy she had known pre-injury and pre-Ronon. 

In the days following their return, she came to realize that there were things about him that she simply could never have imagined. There was a part of her, despite her knowledge of his gentler side that had been fearful of a relationship with him. There was a frightening intensity to him and a rage that he carried around like a badge of honor, neither of which would be traditionally thought of as ingredients in a healthy relationship.

But she soon found out that some of that flipped off like a switch within the confines of their own little world. He smiled easily and spoke more often. They were never going to be called an overly verbose or affectionate couple. She was a little reluctant about each step in their relationship and he still wasn't exactly chatty.

As a couple though, they balanced each other nicely. His intensity was balanced by her practiced calm. His lack of a need to talk was met by her comfort with silences. He surprised her often with how different he was when they were alone in her room. He could be on full out kill mode during training all day but when they were about to fall asleep, he would pull her into his body, the hills and valleys of her form fitting perfectly against his, his head buried in her hair as his breathing evened. He still shifted away from her just after falling asleep but his bit of contact with her grew each night as if he was afraid she would slip away while he slept.

He had a playful side too that she never could have expected. He teased her sometimes, at first with shy smiles as if he didn't know how she would take it but as his confidence grew, he would laugh fully at her reactions. She found that he had a great sense of humor and a great desire to see her smile and hear her laugh. He often did a hilariously off impression of Rodney that never failed to have her doubled over in laughter. The second they stepped out of her room or his though, he was back to the Ronon everyone else knew. All restlessness and proud stoicism.

Teyla was surprised to note that no one really paid them any attention. If people were talking, the rumors had yet to meet her ears. People were used to seeing the two of them together so no one who passed thought much of Ronon coming out of Teyla's room in the morning or of the pair sitting together at most meals. They weren't being overly careful but they were enjoying the time to themselves, the time without the knowing looks and ridiculous rumors.

Uncharacteristically, they both lounged in bed late one Sunday morning. They didn't talk as they lay awake, deciding whether it would be completely wrong to stay in bed all day. Ronon sighed as the sunlight filtered in through the tempered glass. He threw the covers off him and paused, swung his legs out of bed and paused again. For the first time in a decade, he wanted nothing more than to stretch out under the covers and be lazy for as long as he could. Teyla watched him as she stretched under the covers. She was free until lunch and even though she felt sympathy for him, she was going to take advantage and get up at the last possible moment.

Ronon was scheduled to go for a run with John. He figured it was a test to see how fit he was before he was officially cleared and that was really the only reason he was leaving a bed populated by warm sheets and a half-naked Teyla.

As he slipped into his clothes, his eyes caught a glimpse of a framed picture on Teyla's dresser. It was the team before he got there. Just before or after a mission, all suited up with the gate visible off in the background. Rodney smiled, his computer tucked under one arm and Ford smirked at the camera, his face shadowed by his cap. John's arm was snug around Teyla's shoulder as she smiled at the camera through lowered lashes.

Ronon felt it then, that familiar tug of jealousy that he only seemed to feel when Teyla was involved. Suddenly he was curious, wanting to put his nagging thoughts to bed, once and for all. He pulled his shoes over to the edge of the bed and sat down to pull them on. "Did anything ever happen between you and Sheppard?"

"What?" He didn't have to turn around to hear the sleep in her voice.

"You and Sheppard. Did the two of you ever…" He let his sentence trail, the meaning clear without the words.

"No."

"Nothing?"

She swiped at her eyes. "What brought this on?"

He shrugged, "Just curious."

"He kissed me once." She said it easily and if he had listened to her voice and not just the words, his jealousy would have immediately abated.

Instead, he turned to look at her, found her tousled hair and honey colored skin peeking over the sheet almost enough to make him want to forget this conversation and crawl back into bed. "When was that?"

"It was when he was affected by the Iratus retrovirus."

"And that was it? You only kissed him? Only once?"

Her eyes narrowed and she propped herself up, just a bit. "I did not kiss him. And yes, he only kissed me the one time.

"And?"

"What do you mean, 'And'?"

He raised an eyebrow and she sighed and laid back into the pillow, forced her mind to return to what might have been and to what was simply never meant to be. "As I said, he was infected by the retrovirus. We were sparring and he was stronger than ever and much quicker." She glanced at him, watched as he slowly pulled his dreadlocks into a leather band. "He just shoved me against the wall and kissed me."

His head whipped around, "Shoved?" His teeth were clenched, his eyebrows raised. "Did he hurt you?"

"Of course not, Ronon." She propped herself up again. "Why are you so worried about this all of a sudden?"

He tried to make his voice sound normal but he was well and truly bugged and he knew she would notice. "I just wondered." He glanced at the clock on the laptop and he automatically did a double take as the date caught his eye. He calculated the Satedan date in his head and cursed to himself. He suddenly felt numb. Three days.

He had missed the anniversary of Melena's death by three days and he only just noticed.

It had been a day he marked each year but this year he didn't even remember, didn't even notice the date approaching. He glanced at Teyla, saw that she was looking at him with concern and confusion in her eyes.

"I am going to go run." He spoke softly, his feelings overwhelming him in a way that they rarely did. God, he wished he had stayed in bed.

* * *

Teyla's hand held her sheet tight to her chest, her brow furrowed in confusion as she watched Ronon walk out her door. She laid back down, irritated at his reaction and not really sure what had happened. Her head was still filled with the cobwebs of sleep. 

Did he want her to lie? It was not as if she ever really thought about that one kiss or even the feelings she used to have for John. They were so beyond the point to her, such a non-issue, but clearly it was something that bothered Ronon.

Still, she was annoyed at his reaction. If he wanted to be mad about something, this was a stupid thing to choose. It wasn't as if she cared about the women in his past. They were adults and they each knew that the other carried some baggage from their past into this relationship. But to Teyla, there was no baggage involved with John. It was one kiss. One. And she didn't even kiss back!

She threw her covers off, now in as much of a funk as he was. As she moved tentatively around the room, her legs stiff and achy as they always were in the morning, she got more and more irritated with Ronon. If this was how he reacted to one moment with John, how was he going to react when she told him about moments and people that really mattered. She was going to meditate and then punch something, conflicting methods for dealing with things, she knew, but she didn't care. She had the feeling this was the start of a very long day.

* * *

He pushed himself hard in his run, opting to only say a few words to John. He hadn't retreated into himself as much over the last couple of years but suddenly it was all he felt like doing. 

Ronon showered, hoping to wash away his bad mood. But as much as he wanted to wash it away, he wanted to hold onto it, just for today, to wallow in how crappy he felt, to let the unfamiliar tightness in his chest last the day.

He would have shrugged off Teyla's kiss with John by this point on any other day. But on this day, it was just the start of his misery. He had forgotten about Melena. Forgotten about her death. He didn't even know really why that had gotten him so down. Maybe it was how badly he had wanted Teyla, how he hadn't even considered that having Teyla meant moving on from Melena.

As he sat on his bed and pulled a shirt on, he tried to conjure up a memory of her face, of a happy time. It was getting fuzzier. All the memories of his life on Sateda were getting fuzzier. He told Rodney once that he didn't let things bother him and that was true but something about this day had completely brought him down.

As if on cue, the familiar rhythmic thump of rain started on the windows of his room. He closed his eyes briefly and moved to stand near the window, to rest his head against the cool glass as rain poured into the ocean. He followed drops that made it under the awning and onto the glass as they formed rivulets and joined with other drops. It seemed the weather had decided to mirror his mood.

He didn't wallow, he reminded himself as he pushed himself away from the glass. He had also never forgotten Melena's death anniversary, he thought with a grimace as he flopped on his bed. His feet dangled over the edge and he groaned. Teyla's bed was just the right size.

He forced her out of his mind. He owed it to Melena to devote at least one day to her memory. Teyla had her private ceremonies to honor the people who had died in her life, he could give Melena this day.

* * *

Teyla was irritated. She had lunch with Elizabeth and then a light workout to try and get rid of some of her annoyance. She didn't understand Ronon's reaction. She hadn't seen him all day. She ate dinner with Rodney and John and she and half expected to find Ronon waiting in her room when she went to turn in for the night. Her brow furrowed as her door slid open to reveal an empty room. She was surprised when her stomach twisted just a bit. She missed him. It had only been a handful of hours since he had left her room but still, she missed him. 

She dropped her cane near her bed and moved to her bathroom to pull back her hair and wash her face. One ear was unconsciously trained on her room, waiting to hear that telltale hiss of the door that meant that Ronon had come to sleep with her, just as he had every night since they returned from the mainland.

It never came though and that had her worried. A part of her ached with a want to go to him, to find out what was really wrong, to put to bed any thoughts of her and John once and for all. But the other part of her, the part that was all stubborn independence, told her that she didn't need this, or him. If he wanted to get all worked up over something so insignificant, well, that was his choice but she sure didn't have to sit around and wait for him to come to his senses. But no, that thought was all wrong.

She pulled the band out of her hair and eyed her freshly scrubbed face in the mirror. Her eyes told her plainly what her head seemed conflicted about. She did need him. He was worth the effort.

She gathered up her cane, moving quickly with a renewed sense of purpose. She was going to find out what was wrong with him whether he liked it or not.

* * *

Note: The only excuse I have for such a long absence is real life. A whole lot happened but it all boils down to that. Real life got in the way. As a gift for your patience, Chapter 17 will be up tomorrow. 

Also, thanks to everyone who voted in the Isis Awards. I was honored to be the winner in the Ronon/other category. Again, check out the other entries on the site, there are some good ones.

Now, please review!


	18. Chapter 17: Communion

Disclaimer: I own neither Stargate Atlantis or SG1.

A/N: There are some spoilers for the SG1 episode "Pegasus Project." Actually, I am reluctant to call them spoilers because nothing is really given away unless you haven't seen the ep yet and are hyper-sensitive about the slightest details.

**Chapter 17 – Communion**

_Teyla and Ronon made themselves scarce when they heard that people from Earth were visiting Atlantis. It wasn't that they weren't curious about the guests; it was that the rest of the team being tied up with the visitors meant they got a bit of a break._

_They spent the morning off-world, trading for the Athosians and in the afternoon, they found themselves in the sparring room, sticks in their hands as they squared off against each other. They were both used to people slipping in and out of the room to watch them fight so neither even noticed when a woman slipped in and leaned against the wall._

_When they were done, both winded with neither the clear winner, the woman clapped slowly and the pair finally glanced over. "You're very good." She said, her voice heavily accented._

_Teyla smiled at the woman and extended a hand. "You must be one of the visitors from Earth. I'm Teyla."_

"_Yes. Vala Mal Doran." She shook Teyla's hand._

_Teyla watched as the woman smiled toothily as she glanced at Ronon and gave him a once over. "This is Ronon."_

"_Ah," Vala said with realization in her voice. "The natives."_

_Ronon tossed Teyla a towel and put the fighting sticks away. "Thought you had a mission."_

"_We do but Daniel was boring me so I thought I'd poke around for a few minutes."_

"_I'm going to go take a shower." His voice was low as he spoke to Teyla. He gave Vala a glance before he turned his gaze on Teyla, his eyes softening considerably and his mouth curving just a bit. _

_Vala whistled and turned her attention to Teyla as Ronon walked out of the room without another word. "He's friendly."_

_Teyla smiled. "You will have to forgive him. He does not trust new people easily." She pulled the information she had on their visitors to the forefront of her mind. "Are you enjoying Earth?"_

_She shrugged, "Sometimes. Where did you learn to fight like that?"_

"_From my father."_

_Teyla started to walk out into the hallway, Vala following behind. "It's beautiful here." She looked around as she walked, smiling at marines as she passed. It's easy to see why Daniel was so excited."_

_Teyla nodded. "It is nice. Would you like to see something really beautiful?"_

_Vala nodded, excided at the prospect of doing something other than watching Daniel fruitlessly ask a hologram questions. Teyla led Vala to a balcony with a particularly stunning view._

_They leaned against the rail, quiet as they took in the sight. "I have to bring Daniel here." Vala finally spoke._

_Teyla smiled. "You and Dr. Jackson are close?"_

_Vala tucked hair behind her ear, smoothed a hand over her pigtails. "Oh, well, you know." She prepared to make a joke, some sexual reference or off-color comment but instead, she looked at Teyla and like so many others, she felt she could be honest with her, like maybe she was someone who didn't really judge. "Not many people trust me." She smiled as she watched the waves. "He does."_

_Teyla nodded in understanding and let silence settle between them again. "What about you?" Vala asked. "Is it hard for you? Being a native among Earthlings?"_

"_My people are just there." She pointed. "Just across the water on the mainland. Plus I have Ronon."_

"_Yes, Ronon." She smiled knowingly. "Are you two…" She made a hand gesture that had Teyla blushing even as she laughed._

"_No, no. We are just friends."_

_Vala shook her head. "If a man looked at me the way he looks at you, we would be more than just friends."_

"_It would be so complicated, for both of us."_

_Vala's eyes were again on the ocean, her expression wistful as she considered her next words. "Some people are worth the complication."_

* * *

Teyla's cane thudded against the floor with each step she took. Her legs were sore after a day on her feet. But she was on a mission and so she ignored the pain and continued her search. 

Ronon wasn't in his room and he wasn't in the mess hall or the lounge with the TV. She had a couple of other places to look but she was pretty sure she knew where he'd be.

The room they used to spar in was dark when she entered. She ran her hand over the light panel and brought the lights to a dim glow. As the lights came up, she saw him there, standing across the room.

He glanced up at her and she was almost certain she saw a glimmer of a smile. It was all she needed to feel just a bit better, for the annoyance and concern she felt earlier to melt away. As quickly as it came, his smile disappeared again and he glanced down at the stick in his hand. She stepped forward slowly, watching as his grip tightened on the handle. He didn't look at her as he bent down and picked up a second stick. He tossed it to her easily and she dropped her cane and snatched it out of the air.

He got in a fighting stance. It seemed, all these months later that it was time for them to spar. She wasn't fully healed yet and she only had one stick instead of her typical, and more difficult, two. She gripped her own stick, letting the familiar weight settle into a hand that hadn't held her weapon of choice in some time.

Now she was sure that he grinned, smiling dangerously, a grin that she had seen so many times. He loved this, loved to fight. She took a deep breath and took her own fighting stance.

It was an explosion when he lunged at her. She was taken of guard, just for a moment. She had forgotten how fast he was, how he fought when his body was tense with emotion.

She overcame the shock quickly and countered his blows. He was going a bit easy on her and while that would normally irritate her to no end, she appreciated it today. Her muscles cried out as hits landed, her breathing became shallow after only moments of fighting, her feet got tripped up as he backed her toward the wall. She needed him to go easy on her. At least today, at least this time.

Still, he knocked her off her feet with a well placed hit to her chest. She hit the mat hard and winced as her scarred back and shoulder connected solidly with the floor. Her eyes closed briefly as she breathed through the wave of pain and surprise. When she opened them, a hand was in front of her, offering to help her up.

She took it and Ronon pulled her to her feet. Their eyes met for one heated moment, one moment that nearly made her forget that she had come to talk to him, to find out what had upset him so much. His eyes were stormy, his brow furrowed as he frowned, even as he reached a hand up to cup her cheek, to run a thumb along her cheekbone.

The room was quiet, the only sound was her deep breathing and the steady rhythm of the rain outside. The door was closed, warding off any sounds or prying eyes from the hallway. She touched his hand and he jerked it away as if her touched burned him.

His voice rumbled when he finally spoke. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." Her voice was soft as she rubbed her hands together, unsure now of what to do with them. "Are you?"

He stared at her for a brief moment, considering her, the question. He looked away, bent down to pick up their weapons and return them to the stand near the wall. "I'm fine."

"Ronon," she started, not even sure what she wanted to say, "John and I…there was never anything beyond that kiss. Never."

He turned slowly. "I'm sorry." He said it simply, his eyes meeting hers boldly. "You have turned me into a jealous man."

She grinned quickly, averted her eyes from the intensity of his gaze. "It was not just that, was it?"

"No."

She looked up at him, wondering if he would say more. Instead he returned her gaze, looking a little unsure of himself. She recognized the moment for what it was. It was a turning point, a choice. She could do the uncomfortable thing, could push him, however gently, into telling her what was wrong or she could do the simple thing, could hold out her hand and lead him to her room and they could pretend that the rotten day had never happened. But she knew there would be other rotten days. If they stayed together, there would be more nothing fights, more bad memories, bad moods, bad missions, bad days. The way she responded to _this_ mood, _this_ day, would pave the way for all the others. So her options were really more. So much more. Take the easy way or stand and fight for him, for them.

The decision was easy. She held her hand to him, watched as he considered it before taking it gently. She tugged his hand, leading him over to the bench by the windows. He dropped next to her as she sat. "Tell me."

He glanced at the cascade of water as it poured from the eaves and onto the window. "On Sateda, I had someone."

She didn't know what this had to do with his mood but she nodded and spoke quietly. "Melena." He looked surprised. "You said her name once in your sleep."

"Oh." He looked down where their hands were still joined, their fingers intertwined intimately. "She was killed in front of me."

She moved her thumb over his hand in a gesture of comfort. Two years ago, she would have thought that there was simply no comforting him. He was all rage, more animal than man. But looking at him now, seeing the emotion on his face as he spoke of a woman lost more than a decade ago, she was reaffirmed in the knowledge that no matter how he tried to hide it, the man was still there. "Why did it upset you today?"

"Three days ago was the anniversary of her death and I forgot."

Realization dawned. "Because of me?"

He shrugged. "I guess. Because of us." He paused. "It's kind of funny though. I thought I'd use this day to remember her but I ended up in a place that I knew you'd look."

She smiled. "Tell me about her."

"I don't like talking about this."

"I know." She gave him no other options.

"She was smart and kind." He hesitated. "She didn't fight."

"What did she do?"

"She was a nurse."

Teyla watched as he smiled just a little. "What did she look like?"

His eyes met hers. "She was blonde and pale."

_The opposite of me_, Teyla thought. "She made you happy?"

"Yeah, she did." He shook off the memories and came back to the present. "You do too. I'm sorry about today. It just all hit me, I guess."

"I understand. I had someone too, once."

"Your first kiss?"

She sighed, smiled. "My first everything."

He looked again at their hands; found that his was now gripping hers even tighter than before. "Moving on doesn't bother you?"

She considered his question. "He would not want me to mourn after all of this time. I simply remember that he would want me to be happy."

"Yeah." He said the word thoughtfully, carefully, his eyes drifting to the darkness outside and the rain still trickling persistently. "Let's go to bed."

Teyla blinked and stood as he pulled her to her feet. Apparently their conversation was done. She had said the right thing and it pleased her, knowing that she had made him feel better, knowing that even though he had not said much, he felt comfortable opening up to her.

* * *

Later, when they were in her bed, both lying awake, a rather awkward silence stretching between them, Ronon sighed and hooked an arm around her waist, pulled her from her side of the bed and onto his side. He kept his arm snug around her as she made herself comfortable, her head finding its place over his heart, her legs tangling comfortably with his. 

They lay that way only moments when he finally spoke. "I hope you know that this is where I want to be." She knew what he was saying. He didn't regret pursuing a relationship with her. He didn't regret moving on.

She smiled up at him. "Me too."

He cupped her cheek, let his thumb trail across her lips before he kissed her gently. "I have to be honest with you about something."

"Of course." She settled her head back on his chest.

"You really need to work on your fighting."

She gave him an indignant look, ready to exclaim that she hadn't even started training yet, that his impromptu sparring session was the first time she had fought in months. But he grinned at her, that evil little smirk that she had seen too many times to count. He was done being serious, he wanted to play. She swatted at his chest and grinned back. "Just wait. Soon I will be back at full strength."

"Until then, I'll enjoy this victory." She poked them hard in the side, knowing right where he was ticklish. She wiggled her finger, digging it into the muscle, laughing when he fought to disentangle himself and push away from her. He laughed as she followed persistently, knowing all the spots where he was the most sensitive.

"Not fair." He said between breathless laughs. "You aren't ticklish."

"It was not fair for you to fight me yet." She went for the ribs, knowing it was his most ticklish spot but he was ready for her and before she knew it, she was on her back, her hands pinned over her head.

He grinned, his eyes still sparkling with laughter, the seriousness of the day now a distant memory. "Not nice."

"I shall enjoy this victory." She mocked, smiling up at him, not even trying to free her hands.

He grinned as he kissed her, as he freed her hands and nuzzled her neck. She wrapped her arms around him, smiling along with him at the way this day had turned. As he kissed his way up her neck and his lips met hers again, she thought again that he, that this, all of this, was so worth the effort.

* * *

The next day was a whirlwind of activity. Ronon was finally cleared for an off-world mission. He was completely thrilled to be able to tell Teyla his good news when he caught up with her at lunch. She so rarely saw him so unabashedly excited that his enthusiasm spread to her. 

She cancelled her afternoon workout so she could see him off at the gate. It was a routine mission, probably just overnight to check on some people they helped out from time to time.

It was a big deal to Ronon and their friends though and they were all there. Rodney was sitting this one out to continue to search for information on Teyla's captors but he was there, fiddling with one of the electronic devices they would use on the mission. Everyone knew though that he was simply there to support Ronon. They might have very little in common, but they were a team.

Elizabeth smiled knowingly as Ronon pulled Teyla aside. He spoke quietly and she smiled and stepped away. John was too busy checking his vest to notice the moment.

"John, be careful out there." Elizabeth said with a hint of concern in her voice.

"We will. It'll be nice to have Ronon there to watch my back again."

"I'll see you tomorrow evening."

He nodded and Elizabeth motioned for the dialing sequence to begin. The gate came alive and John motioned for the Marines to go. John nodded again at Elizabeth and stepped through and in the last moment before Ronon followed, he turned and gave Teyla a quick smile.

"I'll bet you are looking forward to that." Elizabeth said as Teyla continued looking at the gate.

"Being cleared?" Elizabeth nodded and Teyla laughed at the understatement. Everything in her life was going so well, she just needed to start feeling useful again. "It is all I think about."

Elizabeth grinned as they turned to walk up the stairs. "Not all."

Teyla smiled. "No, I suppose not."

"Dr. Weir," an accented voice called out. Radek rushed forward with a laptop. "The prisoner, Cayus. He's stopped."

* * *

Bradus paced in front Cayus as he ate hungrily from the rations in Bradus's pack. "Tell me again." 

Cayus sighed and spoke between bites. "They let me go. I found a tracking device on my clothes so I got rid of them. Then I just gated from place to place until I was sure no one was following me."

"You found out nothing while you were there."

"No. They were very controlled, very careful. I only spoke to two people."

"What did you tell them?"

Cayus shook his head. "Nothing important."

"And they let you go?"

Cayus sighed again. "I already told you three times."

Bradus scrubbed a hand over his face. "While you were gone, the Wraith came three more times. Three. And we have nothing to show for all the time spent."

"What should we do?"

Bradus sighed. "I don't know. I don't think you should come back yet until we are sure you aren't being tracked."

"I was reluctant to even come here."

"No. You were right to come, there is a reason we chose a meeting spot." He had checked this location everyday like clockwork, knowing that the off-worlders all had these coordinates memorized. They would all come here if something happened. He had been startled when he gated there that morning. He was so used to seeing the little field in front of the gate completely empty that he could barely believe his eyes when he saw Cayus sitting there.

He and Cayus had never really gotten along. They never had any major fights but there was no love lost there either. Cayus tended to be too brown-nosing, too self-serving for his liking. Bradus scrubbed a hand over his face again. "Alright Cayus, based on what you know about the Atlanteans, what should we do?"

Cayus snorted. "Based on what I know? We should find another way. I don't think they are going to talk."

* * *

Note: There ya go. The flashback for this one was something I wrote awhile back when Pegasus Project aired. I was irritated that Vala never met Teyla and Ronon and I imagined she had a bit of time to slip away while Daniel searched. I know I didn't write her super-funny but a) I had to cut some stuff out to get to the point and b) I tend to like the other side of Vala just as much as the funny side. Anyway, new chapter up in the following week…ish. It definitely will be soon, no more long hiatuses are on the horizon. 

Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter, now please review this one!


	19. Chapter 18: Desideratum

Disclaimer: I do not own SGA. I own a few of the characters in this chapter so if you don't recognize someone, they probably belong to me.

A/N: Well, well, well. Look who totally lied in the last chapter. Six months is a long hiatus and I completely apologize. More at the end of the chapter.

**Chapter 18 - Desideratum**

_Teyla watched as the men stepped through the gate. These were her least favorite missions; the ones where she had to stay behind. Sometimes it was a planet's attitude toward women or an injury that kept her on base and sometimes it was simply her duty to her own people._

_Whatever the cause, she always hated when they left, even hated when they came back._

_Being the only native in the city was difficult at the best of times but when her friends were gone, she felt utterly alone, as if she didn't have a single ally in her corner._

_Teyla watched as John waved to her and Elizabeth, as Aiden straightened his cap and adjusted his earpiece. He stepped through the gate, rolling his eyes as Rodney and Carson argued behind him. John stepped through last, throwing one more smile over his shoulder at the women._

_Teyla sighed as she turned to go about her day. They would come back with some great story that she would hear in bits and pieces. No one would seek her out to let her know they were safe and that they had missed her presence._

_Instead, she would run into one of them in the hallway and they would give her an abbreviated report. They weren't a team. Not yet anyway. Sure, they had each other's backs in the field but they had yet to become a true family._

_It would come with time, she figured. And despite her discomfort with her life on Atlantis, she knew, without a doubt, that she was doing the best thing for her people._

_She knew it was selfish to wish for more, knew her friends from Earth had already delivered far more than they had promised. Still, deep down she wanted someone who thought of her first. She wanted someone who would rush to tell her about these missions and inquire about how she spent her time. She wanted someone who was on her side with nothing to gain._

_She needed a friend._

* * *

Elizabeth smiled as John came into her office and settled into a chair across from her desk. "You're back early." 

John nodded. "We were ready to get back."

"How did things go?"

John shrugged. "Everyone is optimistic."

"Hopefully we won't have to relocate them again."

"They seem content to keep moving as long as the Wraith keep finding them. How is Teyla?"

"So much better." She smiled. "She is dying to be released."

John smiled, his eyes tired. "We need her back."

Elizabeth glanced at the report on her desk and pushed it over to John. "Cayus still hasn't moved."

John scanned the report. No jumps in location that would signify gating. He seemed to be staying in a small area, never venturing more than about half a mile in any direction. "Do we have any intel on this planet."

Elizabeth shrugged and rested her elbows on her desk, her fingers drumming softly on the smooth surface. "The database indicates that it's a tiny planet. No more than a big field, really."

"Habitable?"

"Technically but there are some major issues with tectonic activity."

His brow furrowed as he scanned the report again. "So it's a meeting place. What do you want to do?"

"We are low on options on this one. If we go in, he'll know he's being tracked."

"He knows now. It's why he went there instead of his own planet." John's eyes tracked down the report again. "He got rid of the tracker in his clothes?"

She nodded. "About a week ago."

"A week." He muttered as he tilted his head back and examined the wall over her head. "Either he's waiting to see if we are tracking him or he's waiting on his contact."

"Let's wait a few days." Elizabeth pulled the report back to her side of the desk. "Get some rest and we'll see what happens."

John nodded, but his mind was still racing. "Elizabeth, what are we going to do when we find them?"

She smiled, clearly not sure herself. "Get some rest, John. We'll see what happens."

* * *

He looked bone tired as the door to her room slid open. He filled the door frame as usual but this time he slumped tiredly there until she shut her computer off and turned to him with a smile. "You look exhausted." 

"It was a long mission." He stalked into the room and kissed her forehead before flopping onto her bed.

She stood then and walked carefully to her closet, a very slight limp the only remnant of the trauma to her legs. He pushed himself to a sitting position and looked around. "No cane?"

"No cane." She smiled and stepped over to the side of the bed.

"Wanna spar?" He held a hand out to her and pulled her gently onto the bed with him.

"Tomorrow," she breathed as she curled against him. She inhaled his scent. Soap from his shower and earth and something just uniquely Ronon.

Ronon curled an arm around her thin form. "I can barely keep my eyes open," he muttered.

"Then sleep," she drawled, her own eyes closing.

"Missed you." He sighed, his breath evening out as he dropped into an easy sleep.

* * *

When he woke, he was alone in the bed. He hadn't even bothered to get undressed before he fell asleep the night before. He checked the clock beside Teyla's bed before letting his head fall to the pillow again. It was nearly midday. 

He groaned as he pushed himself from the bed and padded over to the bathroom. He felt more alert after a quick shower and he wrapped his towel around his waist before moving into Teyla's room to grab a change of clothes that he kept there for just this reason.

As the door to the bathroom swung open, he was surprised to see Teyla leaning against her desk, a stack of papers in her hands. She was leafing through them idly but she looked up when she heard Ronon move into the room.

"Hey." He smiled a bit as he pulled a pair of pants from a drawer. He let the towel fall as he pulled the pants past his hips. "Where were you?"

"Physical therapy." She placed the papers on the desk and crossed her arms. "Did you sleep well?"

He picked up the towel and tossed it into the laundry bin as he moved toward her. "Yeah." He touched her chin with two fingers, lifted her face to get a better look. He ran a finger gently over each of the three scars. "Looks better."

She touched his chest then, ran light fingers over the puckered scar where the bullet had pierced his flesh. "You too."

One of his hands settled softly onto her back where a web of scars etched her skin. "How is the rest?"

She tilted her head. "Dr. Beckett believes I may be able to start training again soon."

He grinned easily. It seemed all his smiles were easy when they were alone. "Yeah?"

"Yes." She hooked a hand around his neck. "Are you going to help me train?"

"Maybe." His grin was still in place as he lowered his head. He nudged her face up with his own and when she tilted her head back, he leaned in the rest of the way and pressed his lips to hers.

She could feel him smiling as he kissed her. He had smiled more in the past month than he had in all the time she had known him.

When they broke apart, she pushed his hair off his forehead, got a good look at his face. "You have no bruises. I am guessing the mission went as planned."

He nodded and walked to the dresser again to find a clean shirt. "Nothing unusual. Anything exciting happen here?"

Teyla slid her feet back into her discarded shoes as she watched Ronon do the same. "Are you ready for some lunch?" She asked, distracted from his question. When he nodded she returned her focus. "Not really. The day you left, Radek told Elizabeth that the prisoner had stopped. I guess they put a tracking device on him and let him go?"

Ronon nodded, his jaw tight. They fell into step on the way to the cafeteria. "They never let me see him."

Teyla shook her head. "He never mattered."

"I'm going to kill the man with glasses. Before it's all over, I will kill him."

Teyla stopped in her tracks and glanced up at him. He expected her to preach peace, to tell him that neutralizing the threat in a different way would be the better option. Instead, she nodded once and smiled in a decidedly un-Teyla way. "I hope to be there to see it."

* * *

Cayus stood still as the scanner passed over him. He listened to the steady beeping as the scientist searched for tracking devices. He could see Bradus out of the corner of his eye, leaning against a rock and staring intently at the gate. 

Vardis watched over the proceedings, his hands clenched behind his back as he rocked back on his heels, occasionally reaching forward to push his glasses higher on his nose. He had asked a dozen questions when he saw Cayus and then he asked them all again. Cayus was nervous around Vardis, no question about it. The man was a loose cannon and Cayus could not read him. His emotions were controlled and even and his smiles masked his maniacal nature.

Cayus could hear himself stammering as he assured Vardis, yet again, that he hadn't given anything away. He could feel his ears reddening as he saw Bradus smirk at his discomfort.

The scanner's beeping became more and more rapid as it passed over his back. His eyes rolled as he remembered an itch he couldn't scratch, a little pain in the center of his back after his last medical examination before he was set free.

He tugged off his shirt immediately and felt the medical team step over to see his back, to see how the tracker was attached.

"It appears to be just under the skin." Vardis said, some admiration clearly evident in his voice. "Ingenious really, placing it just out of reach."

"How did they get it there?" Cayus asked, his teeth clenching as he felt fingers probing the area.

"It is very small." One of the medics spoke up. "It would have only taken a tiny incision."

"Cut it out." Vardis said with a careless flick of his wrist.

* * *

Bradus frowned as he watched the medic bandage the square patch of raw flesh on Cayus's back. If his yelling was any indication, it had definitely hurt worse getting the tracker out than it had getting it in. 

Vardis flipped the tracker between his fingers, his eyes boring into the object as his mind strategized.

Bradus sighed, knowing he wasn't done with this plan, with this quest for Atlantis. He watched as Vardis called over one of the men that had accompanied him through the gate. The man nodded simply and Bradus stood up a little straighter.

"What is going on?" He asked loudly as he started across the clearing.

"We didn't get information from the girl, perhaps we can from someone else."

Bradus closed his eyes, wishing now that he had spoken up about his misgivings regarding this plan from the start. "Vardis," he spoke freely, no nerves evident in his voice the way they were in Cayus's, "We have already lost too much time. We can still relocate. We can relocate here if we have to while we find a new planet. There are few enough of us now." He motioned toward the tracking device. "This is wasting time and making enemies out of people that could have been allies."

Vardis smiled, the tracking device flipping between his fingers calmly. "Your passion is appreciated but I do not recall the council placing you in charge of this mission."

Bradus thought of his children, the one he lost and the one still waiting on him to save the day. He thought of his wife and of the woman they said was named Teyla. He thought of her companions and of all the people he knew and loved. Something in him snapped. He wanted to find a solution, he wanted to save his family and his people and he wanted to spare the people of Atlantis anymore hurt. He didn't want to follow a madman straight to another dead end. "Then I'm done." He said softly.

"What's that?" Vardis pushed at his glasses.

"I'm done with this. I'll find another way."

Vardis motioned dismissively with his hand and returned his attention to the tracking device in his hand. "Do as you wish."

Bradus smiled, suddenly feeling free. "I will."

He turned and strode toward the gate, entered a familiar set of coordinates and without looking back, he stepped though the ring and set down his own path.

* * *

Note: Since the last chapter, I got a big new job and took a whole bunch of hours in school. I graduate in March and let's just say that I definitely have more stories in mind for this universe. BTW, this is so AU now, isn't it? I think when I started writing this, there weren't even replicators in SGA yet. Oh well, I'm gonna roll with it and if the number of people that have kept me and this story on their alert list for all this time is any indication, you're willing to roll with it too. 

One last thing. I was writing a fic for a different category and I decided to reread this one. When I reread it, some things just clicked and I re-outlined the remaining chapters and started writing in earnest. What that means for those of you who have been patiently (and not so patiently) waiting is that I am now in a place where I can finish this thing up. Over the next two weeks I will be posting the remaining 5 or so chapters. As a matter of fact, I would expect the next chapter by tomorrow or Friday.

Happy Holidays loyal readers!

Brynna


	20. Chapter 19: Vicissitude

Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate: Atlantis, I just own this fic.

A/N: Sorry I'm a couple of days late. I was traveling and then no internet. Anyway, enjoy!

**Ch 19 - Vicissitude**

_They were always paired up. It was a natural partnership and Teyla and Ronon worked well together. They stalked through the woods now, her gun hanging uselessly as he trailed closely behind her._

"_What are we even looking for?" He asked gruffly, annoyed that they were being sent into the woods because of Rodney._

"_I do not know. He said we would know when we saw it."_

"_That's stupid."_

_She threw a disarming grin over her shoulder. "It is that kind of complaining that probably got us sent off alone in the first place."_

_He shrugged. "Better this way anyway." Ronon had been on Atlantis for nearly a year and in that time, he had discovered that everything was easier when it was just he and Teyla. He spied a fallen log and moved to sit on it, his long legs stretched in front of him, crossed casually at the ankles._

_She leaned against a nearby tree and watched as he pulled one of the energy bars they all traveled with out of his pocket. He offered half to her and she accepted even as she muttered that they should really keep looking._

_He grinned mischievously as he bit into the snack. "Or we looked everywhere and couldn't find it."_

_Teyla smiled and shook her head. She moved to sit next to him on the fallen log. _

"_How are your people doing?" He asked as he wadded up the empty wrapper and slid it into the pocket of his coat._

"_They are fine. You should come next time. Halling was asking about you."_

_Ronon nodded. "I would have gone yesterday if it wasn't for Sheppard wanting to look into that power spike on the other side of the city."_

"_Did you discover anything?"_

"_Not really. They'll have to send McKay to check it out if it happens again. "I would have rather spent the day with you and the Athosians."_

"_Do you ever think about what you will do after we defeat the Wraith?" She asked suddenly, her mind wandering back to her day spent with her people._

_He looked at her, watched her as she nibbled slowly on her half of the energy bar. When he answered her, he was as honest as he always was. "No. No I don't."_

* * *

Their lovemaking was lazy in the earliest hours of the morning. Eyes stayed closed, his faced brushed hers as if he couldn't even find the energy to muster up real kisses. Hands lingered, took their time. She pushed at his hair with a weak hand and smiled drowsily as they rocked together. The pace never picked up and when they were done, he hooked a hand under her back and flipped the both of them over so that she was resting on his chest. 

"We have to get up?" He murmured.

She raised her head off his chest and pushed hair out of her eyes so that she could see the clock by her bed. "Not yet."

He blinked his eyes open a bit and watched as she laid her cheek back on his chest. "Good way to wake up."

She couldn't disagree with that. "What time is your briefing?"

"After lunch."

"I am training again today."

"When do we get to spar?" His smile was dangerous when she lifted her eyes.

"You must wait until I am sure we will not have a repeat of last time."

His eyes darkened a bit as he thought of how angry he had been with himself that night. How he had pushed her to spar with him long before she was truly ready. He knew he was lucky that she didn't get hurt.

"Sparring with you will be my prize for working hard," She continued. "I want to make sure that it is a challenge for you."

"How has it been going?" He asked as he took his own glance at the clock.

"Slow." She admitted. "My leg does not always cooperate. My balance is compromised."

"Are you sure it's smart to tell me your weaknesses?"

"I already know all of yours," She purred, her mouth finding a spot on his neck that could definitely be classified as a weakness.

He groaned as he tightened his hold on her. "Cheap shot," He growled, smiling as her eyes met his.

"I fight dirty now. It is my newest technique." Her joke made him chuckle even as he sighed and threw the covers off.

"Time to start the day."

* * *

It was these moments she tended to get lost in the most. They were on their balcony, chatting quietly as they watched the horizon. They had met up after their individual activities and had dinner together before a long walk carried them to the little balcony. The weather was changing and a stiff wind was churning up the water and bringing in a whole new set of clouds. 

Teyla's long hair danced wildly around her face as she tilted her head to view the familiar stars between the clouds. Ronon had a hip resting against the balcony as he twirled his gun in one hand.

"This is now my favorite spot in the city." Teyla closed her eyes and breathed the fresh air in deeply before she turned and watched Ronon holster his gun.

He pushed himself away from the railing and he moved to her. He stood behind her, content to let her lean against him, to absorb his strength. He hooked a long arm around her waist, let his other hand settle on her hip. "This is mine."

She smiled, quick and easy. It was so like him, the unexpected romance in a few gruff words. "Perhaps I was too quick to judge." Ronon's arm tightened its hold as his hand splayed across her stomach. His thumb toyed with the hem of her shirt as her hand came up to twine their fingers together. "You have not told me about your mission tomorrow."

She felt him shrug. "Nothing to tell. It's a short one."

"That is good to hear. You will be careful?"

"Probably not." It was honesty and it was the answer she expected.

"Does the mission have to do with me?"

"Maybe."

She ran her hand up his arm where it wrapped around her waist. "It is easier for you now, being able to help."

He shrugged, brushing her hair out of the way as it whipped him in the face. "I want them to pay." He said simply.

"Then what?"

"What do you mean?"

She was nervous to bring this up but it was something she had thought about often and so she calmed her voice, kept it light. "Do you ever think about us? I mean, you know…" She stammered, uncharacteristically.

"After?" He clarified simply.

She nodded and pushed at her hair, wrapped her other hand loosely around his arm as it pulled her tighter into his body.

"Yes." His voice held a little growl that had her heart skipping a beat. The word was simple, concise, and yet she knew exactly what it meant, knew how much it meant that he could give such a different answer now than he had so long ago. She closed her eyes against the brisk wind and leaned her full weight into her body. He pressed a kiss into her hair and she smiled gently but her little smile melted into a full grin as he whispered into her hair, "All the time."

* * *

The next day Ronon and John stepped through the gate and were on edge from the moment they their feet touched the grass of the field on the little planet. Elizabeth and John had decided that just the two of them would go in to investigate why Cayus's motion tracker was now completely still. It wasn't even moving in the half mile radius anymore. John would lead while Ronon stayed back, his gun set to stun with strict orders not to kill anyone unless John gave the go-ahead. 

This was just a mission to check things out, to see why the sensor had stopped moving entirely. There was a reason that Ronon had never been allowed to see the prisoner and it wouldn't do for him to go in guns blazing and kill the only good lead they had. If John didn't feel so much more comfortable with Ronon covering his back, he wouldn't be going on this mission at all.

But everything was too still when they moved into the little clearing. The ground shook once, a tiny tremor that was a testament to the tectonic activity Elizabeth spoke of, and then it settled back into an eerie silence.

The hair on the back of John's neck stood up as he stalked through the tall grass. The screen in his hand pinpointed the location of the tracker but he sure wished he could have both hands free to hold his gun.

He could feel Ronon behind him, a good six yards away and though he would have trouble ever saying it to the man, he felt immeasurably better knowing he was back there again.

The screen was leading them toward jutting rocks that encircled the field. John and Ronon stopped as they reached the jagged edges, both staring up at the jagged rocks. "I don't like this." Ronon muttered.

"Yeah," John breathed, eyeing the tall rocks skeptically. "Why would he go this way?"

Ronon shook his head. "He wouldn't. This isn't right."

John looked at his screen again before he eyed the rocks wearily. "A trap?" He paused and shook his head, "What am I saying? Of course it's a trap. When is it ever not a trap?"

Ronon clapped a hand on John's back, just hard enough to remind him of his immense strength. "Story of our lives, Sheppard. What kind of trap are you thinking?"

John thought fast, knowing Ronon would let him talk out his theory. "This thing," He waved the little screen around, "Says the tracker is a half mile over these rocks." John slapped a hand against the slick face of one of the jutting rocks. "These probably indicate a fault line."

"You're starting to sound like Rodney."

John sent him a sideways look but let the comment slide. "I don't know what the terrain is like on the other side of these rocks but they are clearly trying to lure us to that tracker."

"Ambush?" Ronon asked, aligning himself with John's way of thinking.

"Oh yeah. They still want those coordinates."

Ronon stared at the rocks again, his mind clearly working. "I have an idea."

* * *

John listened to Ronon's plan, every bone in his body telling him it was a bad idea, that the risk was too great but he also knew that Ronon was right about everything. They had to do something, might as well do the stupid thing. 

"Elizabeth's going to be pissed." John said uneasily.

"Yeah, so is Teyla."

"Probably Carson too. Maybe we should be selective about what we tell them."

Ronon flipped his gun off stun and tested a hand-sized hole in the face of one of the rocks. "I was about to suggest the same thing."

* * *

John limped through the gate sometime later. Atlantis came alive as they saw him appear, his face bloody and his leg cut under the knee. Elizabeth rushed down from her office even as she called for Carson to meet them. She had been worried about this mission all morning. Something felt wrong from the second the sensor had stopped. 

Her heart stopped when she saw John bleeding. She didn't have to look twice to see that John was alone. Her stomach was turning over. It was happening again. One of her elite was missing. Her trusted first team was broken and someone was going to have to tell her best friend.

"John," She called as she flew down the stairs just as Carson rounded the corner. She stood back and watched as Carson ripped the leg of his pants, firing off questions as he staunched the flow of blood. A medic mopped at his face as they both supported his frame and moved him toward the infirmary.

"I'm fine!" He protested loudly. "Elizabeth, get Rodney, make sure he brings his computer. Send Radek too"

"Where is Ronon?" Elizabeth followed closely behind the men.

"Gone." John said tensely. "Get Rodney."

* * *

They gathered around the narrow hospital bed as Carson stitched up John's knee and listened with half an ear. 

"So I'm looking for tracker movement?"

"Just watch and tell me if the tracker we put on the prisoner reactivates."

"So you realized it was an ambush…" Elizabeth prodded.

John sucked in a quick breath through clenched teeth as Carson probed the tender flesh over his eye. "Yeah and we climbed over the rocks to see access the situation. There were lower rocks beyond the tall rocks so I stayed high while Ronon went down and surveyed the area. Next thing I knew men were surrounding him. I tried to make it down but I rushed and my leg caught on a sharp rock and pitched me forward."

"And you hit your head." Elizabeth said, filling in the blanks even as new questions arose.

"And I hit my head." John winced as Carson started stitching the wound in question. "When I woke up, Ronon was gone."

"Alright, but the tracker is deactivated. It has been for a couple of hours." Rodney said.

"I saw him grab for the tracker. Before I blacked out, I saw him make a grab for it."

"Well, right now, it's off." Rodney said with his usual tone of impatience.

"Wait," Radek spoke up. "I'm getting a signal."

"Oh really?" Rodney said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I find it very interesting that you are getting a signal when I have been following that tracker for two weeks and now I'm getting nothing."

"Not that tracker, Rodney." Radek pushed at his glasses. "It's the sensor you placed on the door on planet M2X-281."

John glanced at Elizabeth and Rodney immediately shut his mouth. "Radek, keep watching both sensors. Carson, Rodney, get ready to go, we leave in an hour."

"John –" Elizabeth started.

"I'm fine, Elizabeth." He snapped, guessing the nature of her protests.

"No," She said tensely. "You need to tell Teyla."

John shook his head. "We haven't been keeping her in the loop on any of this."

"John." Her voice carried the weight of her authority this time. "Tell Teyla."

* * *

John ignored the pain in his leg as he made his way to the training room. Teyla looked like a dancer as she went through her traditional fighting moves, a stick in each hand and her skirt flowing behind her. 

She was still too thin, John noticed as he leaned against the door jam. Her outfit was much looser on her than he remembered and her movements were still a little stiff. The grace was returning though and he could finally see the Teyla he knew in the woman before him.

"Teyla," he said softly as she stopped to rub her scarred calf.

"John." She said cheerfully. "You are back earlier than expected." She moved toward him and stopped when she saw his head, when she saw the way the door frame was supporting his weight. "What happened?" There was a note of panic underneath the tense calm of her voice. "Where is Ronon?"

"I don't know." He said simply. "We were ambushed."

Teyla nodded as she placed her sticks carefully in the rack. "When are you leaving?"

"Forty-five minutes."

"I will meet you at the gate in thirty. You can fill me in." Her words were ground out through clenched teeth."

"Teyla, you're still not a hundred percent, you –"

"Clear me." She cut in.

"I can't just clear you, Teyla. Elizabeth has to agree and Carson and Heightmeyer."

"Clear me, John." She brushed past him as she moved to ready herself for the mission. "I am going with you."

* * *

Note: Man, that was a hard one to write, I knew where I needed to get to but this chapter has to set up everything for the last few chapters. A big thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter, especially those of you who sent such nice, detailed reviews. 

Just a clarification, Vardis is the man in glasses. I know that's a little confusing since the people on Atlantis don't know his name yet but Cayus and Bradus refer to him by name.

OK, please review!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holidays.

Brynna


	21. Chapter 20: Plexus

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

A/N: Well, who am I to turn down so many requests for a little Ronon whumpage?

**Chapter 20 - Plexus**

_As hard as it was to have to search fruitlessly for Teyla, he was sure that dreaming of her was worse. It wasn't every night but it was often enough that it was starting to gravely affect his mood. He felt better while he was in the dream, as if it was a retreat, a safe-haven. But the second he woke, he was forced to face his failure, forced to realize that she was still missing._

_Ronon's dreams about her nearly always hinged on them being together, on him admitting his feelings and her returning them. Sometimes he dreamed about things that really happened, their one kiss, the times they had spent together or worked together on missions._

_He knew that Dr. Heightmeyer would have some long, wordy explanation for why he was having his dreams but he was more practical. He spent every waking moment looking for her, it would only stand to reason that she would be on his mind._

_It was some of the other dreams he would have a harder time justifying. It was the dreams that were more like fantasies that he both craved and dreaded in equal measure. Sometimes he dreamed of making love to her or holding her or simply sitting and speaking to her. He welcomed the comfort and despised the emptiness he felt when the dreams were done._

_Teyla believed that dreams meant something, that sometimes they were trying to tell you something. He had never shared that belief until just a couple of weeks before he found her._

_He went to sleep in his room on Atlantis. He was refilling his supplies in between planets and his narrow bed was by far the most comfortable place he had slept in nearly a month._

_As he slid into sleep, he found himself sitting on a beach. He didn't have to look around to know that the Athosian village was settled some distance behind him. The waves were crashing gently in front of him but the water was a ridiculous shade of blue so that it was nearly impossible to see where the water ended and the sky began. He squinted his eyes as he looked up. The sun was bright and looked close enough to touch but the moon was tucked in beside it, appearing just as brightly and just as dominant in the sky._

_He felt a rock next to him. It was smooth and round. He tossed it idly at the water and smirked as it skipped along the surface of the waves until he couldn't see it anymore. "Impossible." He murmured._

"_It is because you are dreaming." He heard from a distance. He looked up and found the source of the familiar voice. Teyla was approaching slowly, a glowing smile appearing on her face. His breath caught as she moved toward him. She was stunning._

_She wore white. Her shirt was cropped and snug. It seemed to sparkle in the ethereal light. Her midriff was bare and lean and he had to swallow as his eyes tracked down. Her skirt hung loosely on her hips and flowed to the tops of her bare feet. He let his eyes drag back up her body to her smiling face. "You never look at me like that in real life." Her voice was amused._

"_I do, just not when you can see. I like your hair." It was curled lightly, a white flower tucked behind one ear._

_She moved closer and settled into the sand next to him. "I do not think I even own anything in white and I sure do not curl my hair."_

"_That's alright." He couldn't take his eyes off of her. "It doesn't matter to me."_

"_White suits you as well."_

_He looked down as his own clothes for the first time. The buttons of his shirt were open over a pair of loose drawstring pants. "Huh." He said. "Wonder what this is all about."_

_She shrugged. "It is your dream, your fantasy."_

_He glanced sideways at her as his arms encircled his raised knees. "I miss you."_

"_I know." She stared at the water. "You must keep your hopes high."_

"_I am. I wish I knew that you were alright."_

_She smiled at him and his heart lurched again. "You will know, one way or another, soon enough."_

_His brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"_

"_Keep on your path. It will lead you to me."_

"_And then?"_

_She leaned her head on his shoulder and his arm moved around her back. "It depends."_

"_On what?"_

"_Whether I am still alive. Whether I am healthy." She stood suddenly and turned to face him, he lowered his knees as she moved close. She straddled his legs and lowered herself slowly into his lap._

"_If I didn't know I was dreaming before…" He muttered._

_She chuckled and leaned her forehead to rest on his. "Your dream."_

"_Yes it is." He said with a grin._

"_We are going to be great together."_

"_Yeah?"_

"_It is an inevitability." She laced her fingers behind his neck. "If I am alive, you must figure out how to make this real. Things will not be easy while I recover. You will have to be strong."_

"_I can be as strong as you need."_

"_You will need to think before you act. I will be counting on you."_

_He sighed shakily as she nuzzled her face against his neck. "I'll try. For this, I will try."_

_She stood up again and backed away slowly. "You will forget. You will forget and it will cost us everything."_

"_What do you mean?"_

_She turned and started down the beach, back the way she had come. "I have to go now."_

"_Teyla? What do you mean I will forget?"_

_He stood and tried to start after her but found that his feet were sunk deep into the sand. "I have to go now." She said again. "And you must wake up. Wake up and find me."_

* * *

His head was foggy, his vision hazy as his eyes slid open. He could hear a man's voice beckoning him to wake up. "Wake uuuuup!" He sang in a way that immediately made Ronon want to punch someone. 

Ronon groaned as his vision cleared. His hands were bound and he could feel warm blood oozing out of a wound at the base of his skull. He tossed his head back to move his hair out of his eyes and pain shot through his head and down into his neck. He clenched his teeth against the pain and let his eyes focus on the man in front of him.

"You." He growled as the man in glasses grinned at him.

Vardis smiled as he watched Ronon struggle against his bonds. "Teyla spoke of me?" He rocked back on his heels in pleasure and delighted as Ronon's struggles grew more desperate. Vardis nodded at his associate and grinned wider as the man delivered a well-placed punch across Ronon's cheek.

Ronon's face erupted in pain as the fist connected. Just as he started to groan, he felt the hand connect again and then again. Vardis stepped forward and grasped Ronon's hair, jerked his face back so that he could see the man's eyes more clearly. "You are friends with Teyla." Ronon growled and ignored pain in his cheek as he again struggled with his bonds. "Perhaps more than friends? She is a pretty little thing, isn't she?" He gripped Ronon's hair tighter as he fought to free himself. "Apologies for having to leave her scarred but she really is quite stubborn, you see."

Vardis released his hair and stood back. "You'll have to forgive us for not having the time to show you the finesse that we showed Teyla. You have only now, only this one chance to tell us what we need to know."

Ronon felt thick blood oozing out of the fresh cut on his cheek. He struggled against the strong rope at his wrists and felt the fibers dig into his flesh. "I won't tell you a thing."

Vardis smiled and rocked back on his heels. "A pity. I will ask my questions anyway."

Ronon listened with half an ear as the man droned on about coordinates, about Atlantis and Earth. All of his focus was trained on the tiny disc he had slipped into the hem of the sleeve of his shirt, the little tracking device he had made a grab for just as he was surrounded. He willed his thick fingers to cooperate, willed the itchy fibers of the rope to loosen just a bit. He felt the little device slide into his fingers and for a moment, felt completely and utterly triumphant.

He flipped the tracker in his fingers, preparing to flick a nail across the activation switch when he saw the man in glasses nod again at his associate. Without even realizing he was doing it, Ronon tensed, the tracker was clutched tightly in his fist so he did not drop it. He yelled out in pain as his attention was jerked from the tracker and back onto the men in the room.

A knife was being thrust carefully into his thigh. The man left it there and Ronon panted through the pain. "You should answer my questions." He heard dimly through his pain. "It will not get any easier if you do not."

Ronon gritted his teeth and as he forced his mind away from what the men were doing and back onto the tracking device in his hand, he had only one thought in his mind as he tried to shift his focus from the piece of metal lodged in his thigh, he'd be damned if he was going to use crutches again.

* * *

Teyla's first trip back through the gate was not as joyous as she might have imagined. Everyone was on edge. Carson kept throwing her sideways glances as if he was afraid she was going to fall over at any moment. He didn't have to say anything for her to know that he was against her clearance. She didn't care. At the moment, she couldn't bring herself to care about much except for Ronon.

Her leg was aching just a bit as they trudged through the woods on the very planet where she was first captured and held. She masked her limp, forced herself to walk steadily so as not to cause Carson any more concern.

John was following Rodney closely as he used a small device to find the motion sensor they had planted. She could see John tensing more and more the further they moved from the gate. His own limp was pronounced and she watched him grit his teeth more than once when the terrain became uneven.

In spite of the circumstances, Teyla felt unbelievably right being out with these people again. She had missed this, missed them more then even she knew and as she fell into her normal role of protecting the group from the rear, she felt her months of absence begin to melt away.

She eyed the woods as they weaved between the dense trees. There were rocks beneath her feet and she had to be mindful to keep from tripping. She did not recognize anything on the planet. Once they made their way through the trading area where she had been abducted, nothing looked familiar. It was a little disconcerting to her, knowing that this completely strange place was such a key piece of her ordeal.

The group stopped as John raised a hand and Rodney started chattering in an excited whisper. John cut him off and motioned to Teyla. She moved to the front and inched slowly toward a half open shaft in the ground. John gave her a meaningful look and leveled his own gun. She flicked the tack-light on her gun to the on position and shined it down the shaft. She found her footing on the steps and descended slowly.

She hadn't been overly fond of the dark since she returned to Atlantis and as the walls started to close in around her, she found she wasn't overly fond of small places either. She pushed it to the back of her mind as she had learned to do with so many other things. Injured or not, this was her job. She and John were the warriors, not Rodney and Carson. She or John went first, no exceptions.

She shined her light down the narrow hallway as her feet ran out of steps to climb down. She could see a light ahead and she turned her tack-light off and moved stealthily down the hallway. She could hear John starting his own descent as she moved slowly down the little tunnel. She couldn't let herself dwell on the fact that the walls were brushing against her shoulders as she walked. Her captors had often held her in tiny, dark rooms and it would not take much to throw her right back there, right back to that crazed place of pain and hunger and fear. So she didn't think about it, just focused on the light ahead and John's quiet footsteps behind her.

Teyla pressed herself against the wall as she neared the end of the hallway. She didn't know what she was expecting to see, but a single man sitting at the little table was not it. He had a lamp pulled close as he poured over a sheet of paper and a book. His brown hair stood on end as his fingers thrust into it again and again. She could see frustration written plainly on his face.

She held a hand up to John and signaled quickly that there was one unarmed man ahead. Teyla leveled her gun easily, feeling as if it was an extension of her arm that had been taken from her months ago. She rounded the corner in one smooth step, suddenly feeling exactly like her old self, confident and sure and prepared for anything. Her feet moved on their own as the man stood up from the table. He raised his hands in submission as she moved to the side to let John through.

"You." He said simply. "You're alright."

She raised her eyebrows and glanced at John. "Who are you?" John's voice was strained as his finger hovered over the trigger.

The man kept his hands high as his eyes darted back and forth from John to Teyla. "I am called Bradus and I owe you a world of apologies."

Teyla looked back at John and lowered her gun as he motioned that he would keep his leveled. "What do you mean?"

Bradus thrust a hand into his hair again and then thought better of it and smoothed it down quickly. "I am from Istene, same as the man you held, Cayus."

Teyla narrowed her eyes as she considered him, she had seen so many different people during her time in captivity. "I do not recognize you."

He shook his head. "No, you wouldn't. I had nothing to do with what was done to you after you were captured."

"Then why do you apologize?"

"I chose you." He braced himself, halfway expecting her to strike out at him.

Instead she breathed deeply, her face a practiced calm that masked her confusion. She felt Carson and Rodney move into the small room behind John. "You chose me?"

He nodded and spread out his arms. "I have much to tell you, all of you. I am unarmed. Feel free to search me. My gun is in the room behind me, a knife is in my boot. Take them."

Teyla looked to John. "Go ahead." He said to her before addressing Bradus. "Surely you won't mind if I keep my gun right where it is."

She searched him quickly, finding his knife right where he said. She moved to the rooms in back, her gun leveled again as she opened first one door and then the other. She paused as she opened the little cell where she had been held. Her reaction to the tiny space was visceral as her entire body shuddered. She turned away quickly and opened the other door. His gun was discarded on the bed. She scooped it up and turned to nod at John.

He lowered his gun and motioned for Bradus to sit again. John sat across from him as Rodney settled into a third chair and Teyla and Carson leaned back against the hewn rock. "Now." John said, "I think it would be best if you started at the beginning."

* * *

Teyla felt drained as Bradus finished up his story. She didn't know how to feel. On the one hand, he was responsible for her capture. On the other hand, if it hadn't been her, it would have been one of her friends. Besides, what wouldn't she do to protect _her_ people? He had been in a bad position but he had felt remorse from the beginning, he was striving to make amends and to protect his people in a way that didn't get other people hurt. 

She felt detached as they made their way back through the gate, as Carson scanned Bradus, as she watched John hit him over the head with the butt of his gun. They had to take him to Elizabeth and he simply couldn't be conscious as they went through the gate. As glad as she was that Bradus seemed to be willing to work with them, she couldn't help the feeling of crushing disappointment that was threatening to consume her.

They were no closer to finding Ronon and as she stepped through the gate, she finally understood how he must have felt as his search for her turned up nothing but dead ends and false leads.

But there were things that Teyla did not know. She didn't know that Bradus was willing to give up information freely. She didn't know that Ronon was still clutching a tracking device between ever-weakening fingers. And she sure didn't know that apart from finding Bradus, this was all part of one, very ill-conceived plan.

* * *

Note: This chapter got a little long so it didn't end up quite where I thought it would. This story might end up having more chapters than I originally thought but oh well, it will be exactly as long as it needs to be. Besides, I had to beat up on Ronon just a bit after so many reviews and e-mails requested it. 

I also had a blast writing this flashback. I alluded vaguely in the second chapter to Ronon dreaming about Teyla so I thought I'd write a full dream. I could have done three-thousand words all on that beach in Ronon's dream.

OK, I have a lot of the next chapter written already (and have for like a year) so review so I will be motivated to finish it quickly ;).

Thanks for the support, the reviews, and the alerts. Happy New Year!!!

Brynna


	22. Chapter 21: Propitious

Disclaimer: I down own Stargate: Atlantis.

A/N: And I'm back.

**Chapter 21 - Propitious**

_Teyla kept her head down as Elaine pushed her out of the infirmary. With all the excitement of finally getting released, she hadn't thought of this part. She could feel people 's eyes on her as Elaine pushed her wheel chair through the crowded halls._

_She had avoided mirrors in the infirmary. The first time she had seen herself, just after she woke up in the narrow hospital bed, she had gasped at her own reflection. "It'll heal." Ronon had said gently. She had simply nodded, had put the hand mirror down and pulled her blankets to her chin._

_Teyla knew she didn't still look like that. Her cheeks couldn't be as gaunt with all the food they forced on her in the infirmary, the ugly stitches were removed from her face, and she figured most of the bruising must be gone. But still people stared and whispered as they moved out of the way._

"_Lift your head up, child." Elaine whispered evenly. "Let them see what protecting us cost."_

_Teyla's head was throbbing but she raised her eyes and came face to face with Ronon. He hobbled over, looking at her just as he always had and she smiled genuinely, so thankful that he seemed to be around whenever she most needed him._

"_Hey." He said huskily, almost grunting the word as he limped unevenly._

"_Hello."Teyla's smile held fast and suddenly she didn't even notice the people scurrying out of their way._

"_Where's your other crutch?" Elaine asked sharply, ignoring his greeting._

_He swallowed and glanced at Teyla. "In my room. I can manage with one." He followed them as Elaine pushed Teyla briskly down the hall. He struggled to keep up as if to prove that his single crutch was sufficient._

_Elaine opened the door to Teyla's room and she tutted at Ronon as he immediately dropped his crutch by the door and limped over to help her get Teyla into bed. After making sure Teyla was comfortable, Elaine took her leave._

"_She's going to tell on me." Ronon said with a mischievous smile._

_Teyla wasn't listening. Her eyes were glued to the mirror on the inside of her open closet door. She leaned forward a bit, her hand lifting involuntarily. Her fingers hovered over the scars on her face. They were puckered and angry looking._

_She felt Ronon lower himself to sit beside her on the bed. "Teyla." He said, as gently as he could muster._

_She ignored him and blinked back fat tears that threatened to fall. She wasn't a particularly vain person but she never imagined that she would forever have these lasting reminders of her ordeal._

_Teyla felt Ronon take her good hand gently. His thumb traced over the back of her hand as he watched her blink hard and turn to face him. "It just looks bad because you haven't looked in awhile." She nodded, still not trusting herself to speak while her tears were so close to the surface. "Remember what the doc said? The redness will go away and the swelling will go down."_

_She nodded again and turned her hand over to twine their fingers together. "Thank you."_

_He smiled down their hands. "You're beautiful." He said quietly, earnestly._

_She felt a small smile flit across her face but instead of thanking him again, she sighed and glanced once more at the mirror. "I do not even care really, what I look like."_

"_Then what's wrong?"_

"_I think I would just like to forget and move on." She touched the scar at her lip gently. "But I am not going to be able to, am I?"_

_He shook his head once. "No."_

_She slid her hand from his and burrowed into her pillow. "I just want things to return to normal."_

_Ronan watched her shift to find a comfortable spot. He felt his own wounds throbbing as she grunted in pain. The special sling that kept her arm still was cumbersome to sleep with. She touched her face again as she felt pain shoot through one of the scars. "I think normal is a long way off."_

* * *

"Tell me again." Elizabeth said patiently.

"I watched your team and I made a choice."

"And that was your involvement?"

Bradus nodded. "That was my involvement."

"And you have since ended your association with Vardis and Cayus?"

He nodded simply. "I still want to help my people but not like that."

"You don't know where they could have taken our friend?"

Hours of interviewing had turned up a wealth of information about the people of Istene and why Teyla had been captured. Elizabeth found that she actually liked Bradus and felt for him and the position he was placed in. He was obviously bright and compassionate and had only done what he thought was necessary to save his people.

Bradus sighed at the question she had again and again. Something popped into his mind. A word he remembered from so long ago. "Do you know of a place called Faldaera?"

Elizabeth's brow furrowed and she shook her head.

Bradus rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "I don't either. It's just something I remember the council saying when they sent Vardis on his mission."

She looked up at John as he stood behind her, trying to look menacing even though she could tell he was nearly asleep on his feet. "Get Teyla."

John touched his earpiece and spoke quietly across the comms. A minute later, Teyla appeared in the doorway. She eyed Bradus wearily and moved to sit next to Elizabeth. "Hello." She said simply, seeming to not know what to say.

"Teyla, have you heard of a place called Faldaera?"

Recognition was immediately evident in Teyla's eyes. "Faldaera?" She looked at Bradus. "From the children's stories?"

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked.

"There is a cautionary tale that children are told. It has to do with the creature of Faldaera coming to steal their thoughts and dreams if they do not obey their parents."

"A Pegasus boogeyman?" John said with a hint of a smirk.

"Is it real?" Elizabeth asked, ignoring John.

Teyla shrugged. "All of those stories have some basis in reality I suppose. Why? Is that where Ronon is?"

"We don't know." She glanced at Bradus who shrugged.

"They don't have a lot of time. The Wraith have decimated our population. Vardis will not take the time with him that they did with you. If there is something on Faldaera that will get the information quicker, he will go straight there."

"Why didn't he take me there?" Teyla asked.

"I do not know." Bradus said simply. "Vardis and I…we don't operate on the same wavelength. Knowing Vardis, though, he was only going to take you there when he was sure he could not get you to talk."

Elizabeth turned to Teyla. "What do you think?"

Teyla thought for an extended moment before speaking slowly, her memories coming to the forefront of her mind even as she spoke. "The man in glasses...Vardis," She corrected. "The last time I was interrogated, he said I would die and he would get the answers anyway."

"Then what happened?"

"Vardis left and two men came." She paused, let her eyes trail to the table between her and Bradus before she let her eyes boldly meet his. "They beat me until I was unconscious." She paused and watched as he looked away. She swallowed once and continued. "I do not remember anything else until Ronon..." She trailed off and turned her gaze back to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth leaned forward in her chair. "When you were in the infirmary, you told me that the last time you were interrogated, you heard the men talking."

"Oh yes!" Teyla exclaimed. "They said they were taking me somewhere so they could get their answers and that I would be no use to them after."

Bradus spoke up. "Vardis was probably hoping that he could get the information from you and then still get some sort of ransom. If you were dead, that would not be possible."

Elizabeth spread her arms. "So where might Faldaera be?"

"That must be information that is beyond my level of clearance."

Teyla's eyes narrowed marginally even though she was finding herself more and more trusting of his intel. "Why are you sharing what you know? Do you expect us to help your people?"

He laughed and rubbed at his eyes again. "No, I have no illusions about that. I am merely trying to set things right. I wouldn't turn down the help but I would never expect it. Not after…everything."

Elizabeth glanced at Teyla. "Let's get Ronon back to the city and go from there."

Teyla stood. "I will go talk to Rodney and Radek. Halling is in the city too. Between us, maybe we can figure out where Faldaera is."

Bradus turned back to Elizabeth as Teyla moved out of the room. "She is uncomfortable around me."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "She is entitled."

"Yes. She is. I will help in any way I can, I need you to know that."

"You are nothing like Cayus."

Bradus smiled. "That is a lovely compliment. Would you like me to look at the book you found in the cave? Perhaps there is something useful inside."

Elizabeth glanced at John. They were both unsure how to deal with someone so forthcoming, so willing to give them exactly what they needed. "Thank you." She said carefully. "Any help you can provide…" She stood to go get the book they had found in the cave weeks before. "I have one more question."

"Yes, of course."

"When your people were dying and the Wraith kept coming, why did you not just _ask_ for our help?"

He shrugged simply. "Because people like you are the exception, not the norm."

* * *

"Tell me the story again." Rodney's fingers tapped the keys of his computer as quickly as he could. He pushed the database to search again and again.

Halling started reciting the story again. He leaned over the table, looking to Teyla when he forgot a detail.

"Sh sh sh!" Rodney said suddenly, halting Halling in mid-sentence.

Halling sighed deeply, clearly frustrated with being interrupted yet again. "If you would ever let us finish the whole story, perhaps ̶ "

"What did you find?" Teyla interrupted Halling causing him to sigh even deeper.

Rodney glanced at her, even as he was reading the database entry. "Faldaera. Well, an earlier spelling but..." He paused and caught her gaze. "I think it's our planet."

* * *

Ronon's head felt heavy. The loss of blood had made him dizzy and he could feel himself losing his battle to stay conscious.

He still had the tiny tracking device clenched between sweaty fingers. He could feel blood running down his hands as he pulled tight against his bindings to try to move the disc into a more favorable position.

The blood and sweat were making increasingly hard to move the disc around and above everything, he knew he could not afford to drop it.

Ronon moved the disc up his palm and yanked against the bindings to force his hands far enough apart to run a nail over the surface of the disc. He tried again, and then again, panting with the effort of struggling with his bindings. His head was pounding with the weight of concentration.

He yelled in frustration as each attempt failed and he panted tiredly as he mustered all of his remaining strength and flicked his blood covered thumb across the smooth surface of the tiny disc.

His tense hands slackened as Ronon passed out, and just before he slid into the unconsciousness that was calling him so loudly, he was certain that he heard the telltale sound of the tiny tracking device falling to the ground.

* * *

"Still nothing?" John's voice was muffled, his head buried in his arms as Radek stared at his computer.

"No. I thought you were asleep."

"I'm just...resting my eyes."

John raised his head and Radek could see the creases from his uniform etched clearly in John's face. He scrubbed at eyes that were still heavy with fatigue.

Radek turned his screen so John could see that his program was still scanning fruitlessly.

"Ronon will turn on the tracking device." John said for the tenth time.

"How are you even certain that he grabbed it?" Radek turned the screen back around.

John buried his head again and mumbled with his muffled voice.

His words were indiscernible. "What?"

He repeated his mumbles.

"I cannot understand you."

John jerked his head up. "We had a plan!"

"A plan?" Radek adjusted his glasses. "This was all part of a plan?"

"Some of it." John muttered defensively. "The parts that have gone well."

"What part would that be?"

John opened his mouth to answer but instead buried his head again in his arms. "Just keep scanning."

"Does Dr. Weir know about this plan?"

John raised head and glared at Radek. "That doesn't really matter right now, does it?"

"I was just ̶ "

Radek's computer screeched quietly and he whipped his head around. He quickly punched several buttons and zoomed in on the little red blinking light. "He's done it." He muttered excitedly.

"The tracking device?" John asked hopefully, suddenly feeling wide awake as adrenaline coursed through him.

"Yes." Radek looked at John and grinned. "We found Ronon."

"See?" John said slowly. "Our plan worked."

* * *

Elizabeth stared at the two men before her. She used her most authorative voice as she gave them instructions for dealing with Bradus. He would be kept in a spare room instead of a cell but that didn't mean she would leave him to his own devices. "Do not leave him alone for a even a moment. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am." They said in unison.

"Treat him as a guest but take the same caution as you would if he were a prisoner. I'll send relief when your shift is over. You're dismissed."

The men turned to leave and almost collided with John and Rodney as they rushed into her office. Teyla and Radek were close behind. They started talking over each other as the marines struggled to leave the office.

Rodney's voice was smug as he spoke first. "We found the planet."

John stepped up, shoulder to shoulder with Rodney. "Yeah, well we found Ronon."

Rodney smiled. "That's great but we have gate coordinates"

John shot back. "And we know where on the planet to find him."

"What do you mean you found Ronon?" Teyla asked, not even trying to mask the eagerness in her voice.

"He grabbed Cayus's tracking device."

Teyla locked her gaze with Elizabeth who smiled gently at her friend before turning her attention to the whole group. "Good work." Her voice became authoritative again as she stood from her desk and locked her hands behind her back. "Now go get him."

* * *

Note: What's up, loyal readers? Well, I graduated from college a couple of weeks ago and I have been using my free time to write furiously. It's good news for you all because I have finished this story. Yes, you heard me correctly, I have all the chapters sitting on my hard drive, just waiting to be edited and posted.

Now review! The next chapter will be up Saturday or Sunday. Thanks for your patience during my absence.

- Brynna

P.S. To the person who wanted to know if they could translate this story into German, I am sorry but I cannot find the e-mail. If you are still interested, send me another message. I've been really disorganized during my last quarter of school.


	23. Chapter 22 Abalienate

Disclaimer: I still don't own SGA.

A/N: I wrote a lot of this chapter way back when I first started this story. I'm excited to finally get to post it.

**Chapter 22 - Abalienate**

_Elizabeth sighed hugely as she sank into her chair across from Teyla._

"_Long week?" Teyla asked with a smile._

_Elizabeth laughed a little. "Probably nothing compared to yours."_

"_Mine has not been so bad." She gestured to the spot where her cane usually leaned. "I do not have to use the cane any longer."_

_Elizabeth's face lit up as she congratulated her friend. They tucked into their food as Teyla told her about her progress, about her physical therapy, and about her meetings with Dr. Heightmeyer. Elizabeth was delighted to hear about all of it. She was back to being Teyla again. Her confidence was back. The impressive ease with which she always tackled life was back._

"_I notice you haven't said anything about Ronon."_

_Teyla met her eyes boldly, so different from the lowered lashes and embarrassed smiles she had given Elizabeth when everything had first started. "What should I say?"_

_Elizabeth shrugged. "How are things going?"_

_Teyla smiled, her face serene. "Everything is going very well."_

"_Have you told John or any of the others?"_

"_No. Not yet."_

"_Is it serious?" Elizabeth already knew the answer. Teyla and Ronon never did anything lightly._

"_I think..." Teyla trailed off, her face flushing just a bit._

"_What?"_

"_I can no longer picture a life without him."_

* * *

The building was huge and ancient, reminiscent of Earth's Egyptian ruins. Foliage was wrapped around every pillar and grew from cracks in the foundation. Vines lined the bricks and held tight to each stone and statue.

The steps threatened to crumble under their feet. The whole structure was a charred relic of former greatness. Teyla didn't even notice the uneven steps as she moved up them quickly and eyed the dark, gaping doorway. Rodney directed them quietly next to her, the readout on his hand-held device picking up the signal from Radek's program. She lifted her gun, flicked on the tac light and used it to illuminate the darkness.

She could hear John limping behind her and Dr. Beckett walking quietly next to him, his bag of medical supplies rattling lightly.

"Go left." Rodney said.

Teyla shined her light to the left and found a narrow corridor. She moved slowly, her back pressed against the wall. She moved into the darkness as the rest of the team waited for the all-clear. A decorative tile on the wall came loose from the weight of her shoulder and clattered to the floor loudly. She turned quickly and pointed her gun at the offending tile, her heart beating wildly as she felt John and the others press in behind her.

"It is alright."

"This place is falling apart." John nudged the tile with the toe of his boot. "Let's keep moving."

"He should be straight ahead."

John touched his ear. "Major Lorne, we are approaching our target."

"Understood, we'll be ready." Lorne's team was poised outside the building, ready to run in at any moment.

The team fell back into formation as they continued down the hallway. Teyla shined her light into open doorways as she walked but each was empty. She listened again to the quiet footsteps as the rest of the team followed behind. She paused as she realized her own footsteps were suddenly much louder.

Teyla shined her light at her feet, expecting to see pebbles under her boots. She squinted and nudged whatever it was with her toe. She angled her light across the floor and gasped.

The ground was littered with bones.

The bones under her feet were ground up into small pieces but as she looked ahead, she could see full skeletons.

She swallowed the hint of panic that was threatening to rise. "Watch your step." She said simply. "Follow closely."

She started forward again, picking her way slowly through the uneven bones. She kept her light trained on the ground and kept moving forward. After thirty yards or so, Rodney called out, "Wait."

Teyla stopped and shined her light back. "What is it?"

"He should be here."

Teyla shined her light around quickly and saw that they were no longer in the narrow hallway but were instead in a huge room.

She shined her light back and watched as the team filed in behind her. "Where is he, Rodney?"

"He should be ̶ " He stopped suddenly as light began to flood the chamber. Torches that were dotting the walls sprang to life. Each gave a little pop as they caught fire. "Oh no." Rodney murmured.

"That was creepy." John said slowly as Teyla turned her light off.

"I agree." She scanned the room again, ignoring the amazing architecture and the piles of bones as she searched for any sign of Ronon. She moved forward slowly but stopped abruptly when she heard movement.

She leveled her gun and felt John move up next to her. The room was bright now and the air shimmering before them was clearly visible. "You see that?" John asked.

"Yes."

"Do you think we should shoot it?"

She didn't miss the hint of a smile in his voice but still, she answered simply. "No."

"Alright." He said under his breath.

The shimmering air started to glow and suddenly seemed to melt away all together. Teyla's finger was poised over the trigger of her gun as the creature presented itself.

"He knows how to make an entrance." John said quietly as the air continued to emit a blue light and melt away.

When the light diminished, a lizard-like creature stood in its place. "That's it?" John asked. "A lizard?"

"Well he was invisible a moment ago. Maybe we shouldn't write him off just yet." Beckett spoke up.

The lizard eyed them, its tongue flicking out from time to time. "Welcome, friends of Ronon Dex." It rasped in careful English.

John glanced at Teyla. "I was...not expecting that."

"Where is Ronon?" Teyla asked.

"I know you…" It hissed, in its raspy whisper. His yellow lidless eyes rolled toward Teyla. "You with the brown skin and brown eyes."

Teyla glanced at her teammates. "What do you mean?"

"I know that voice. It was everywhere in the man, Ronon Dex." The creature tilted his head. "Do you love him?"

Teyla's eyes shifted to Sheppard and her grip tightened on her gun. "What does that have to do with anything? Where is Ronon?"

Its eyes rolled slightly and his long tongue darted out and flicked across one eye. "Love fascinates me. I have seen the actions it has caused in others but I have no means to feel it."

John cleared his throat. "That's fascinating. Really. And sad. But you haven't answered our question. Tell us where Ronon is."

"I have been inside his mind. I have fed off of his memories and lived inside of his dreams. I was supposed to find some coordinates but there were so many more interesting things inside the man, Ronon Dex."

"Our sensors tell us that Ronon is in this room." John said, his finger hovering over the trigger of his gun.

It rolled its eyes from Teyla to John. "Would you like to shoot me?"

John glanced at Teyla. "Kind of."

"Go ahead." The creature hissed. "Shoot. You can find Ronon Dex whether I am here or not. So shoot."

John squeezed the trigger of his gun and in a flash, the air around the creature shimmered and the bullets passed straight through. "Fantastic." John said quietly.

Teyla and John both lowered their guns. "You cannot hurt me with your weapons. I can change forms."

Rodney squinted his eyes, stepped slightly around John. "You mean you choose to be that gross lizardy thing?"

If the creature had a proper mouth, it might have smiled. "I have found that this form frightens humans. But I can become anything. Anything I have learned, anything I have found." His eyes turned again toward Teyla. "Do you love him?"

Teyla shook her head. "Why do you keep asking me that? What does it have to do with anything?"

"Do you forget so quickly? I have been inside his memories. I have seen you writhing, naked and perspiring. I have heard you cry out. Why do some creatures call it making love if there is no love involved?"

Three heads had snapped to face Teyla. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before facing her teammates, forcing herself to calm so that the red would leave her face. "Right." She searched for words as she saw the shocked and knowing looks her teammates were giving her. "I -" She started before she gave up and turned to the creature. "If you have seen his memories, then you know that what we have is private." She nearly spit the words out, her teeth clenched and her voice echoing off the walls of the great chamber.

The creature moved forward slightly and spoke over whatever comment Rodney was about to make. "Do you feel embarrassed now? I have seen creatures feel embarrassed. What is it like?"

"Why do you keep asking these questions?" We just want to find Ronon."

The creature hissed once before his raspy voice filled the chamber once more. "Every creature I study interests me but the man, Ronon Dex, his memories were simply fascinating. So many angry moments that I could almost feel what it was like."

"That's it then?" John asked. "You want to feel something?"

The creature's tongue flicked over an eye. "I want to learn. I can learn from memories but I cannot learn to feel emotion." Its eyes flicked over to Teyla. "Observing the effects of the emotion is not the same as experiencing."

Teyla's head tilted slightly. "What do we have to do for you to tell us where Ronon is?"

The creatures head tilted in an obvious mimic of Teyla's gesture. "Will you answer my questions?"

Rodney spoke up. "How do we know Ronon is alive?"

"I was not done with his memories. I would not dispose of him until I was done."

Teyla felt her stomach churning and was grateful when Dr. Beckett spoke up, nerves evident in his voice. "Is Ronon harmed?"

The creature made a noise that was like a purr. "He is safe. He is not conscious. He is not in pain either. I have not harmed him yet." His yellow eyes turned to Teyla. "Your body was broken?"

Teyla sighed and glanced at John. He shrugged, indicating that it was her call. "How many questions do I have to answer?"

The creature moved forward again. "The amount depends on the quality of your answers. Answer truthfully and the number will be few."

"How many is a few?" John asked skeptically.

"As many as it takes." He rasped.

"No." Teyla said evenly, her thoughts trained on Ronon. "Five questions. I will give you five honest answers to any five questions."

The creature was silent for half a minute as it stared into Teyla's eyes. "That is a fair trade."

Teyla glanced at Dr. Beckett and then back to the creature. "Let Dr. Beckett go to Ronon and while he is tending to him, I will answer your questions. You have my word."

The creature's eyes rolled toward Dr. Beckett. "Ronon Dex's memories have shown that you are an honorable human." His eyes flicked back to Teyla, "You as well. I will do as you have asked."

The creature started to again emit a bright blue light. The air around him began to ripple and change and when the light cleared, a human man stood there. His eyes were still yellow and as he opened his mouth to speak, the voice held the same raspiness. "Follow me." He said to Beckett.

John motioned to Rodney who started after them. "Are you a replicator?"

"Not exactly but I have been asked that before."

The creature illuminated one of the dark alcoves in the back of the chamber and suddenly Teyla could see Ronon's legs in the doorway where he laid on an altar. She craned her neck to get a better look as Carson rushed to tend to him.

The creature turned his attention again to Teyla and John. "Why did you change?"

The creature stared at John, a little disconcertingly. "It is more comfortable for you."

He flicked his eyes to Teyla and watched as her eyes tracked to the alcove. "He is unharmed by me. He is merely unconscious. I could not have him making new memories as I fed. The dishonorable men who brought him to me harmed him but it is not life-threatening."

Teyla sighed shakily, suddenly feeling very tired. She ignored the itching feeling in her palms, the uneasy tingles under her skin as every cell in her body ached to go to Ronon. "What questions do you have for me?"

The creature's head tilted to the side again. "Do you love him?"

Teyla sighed. "I believe I might."

"You are not sure?"

"Sometimes feelings can be confusing."

"This feeling that might be love, what does it feel like?"

Teyla paused in thought. "Frightening."

"Why did you forgive him for betraying you?"

Teyla took a moment as the creature switched topics lightening fast. At first she wasn't even sure what he was talking about but the memory leapt, unbidden into her mind. She had been so angry that day when he had used her to seek revenge on an old enemy but they had long since put the incident behind them. "Because, he was doing what he thought was right. He was doing what he thought he had to do. Ronon has more than made up for it since."

Seemingly pleased with that answer, the creature pressed on. "What did it feel like when your body was broken? I once took on this human form and tried to cut myself to see what it would feel like. Skin that it not really skin cannot be harmed, though. What is pain like?"

"It was frightening."

"Like love?" The creature conjured up three roughly hewn chairs and sat awkwardly on one. Teyla perched across from him, her gun settled comfortably in her hand.

"I suppose there are similarities but the pain was excruciating. There were days that I believed death would be preferable."

"And yet you survived."

Teyla nodded. "Yes. Did you give the coordinates to Vardis?"

"Is Vardis the name of the dishonorable man who brought Ronon Dex to me?" Upon her nod, the creature flicked his wrist in a move he must have seen in someone's memories. "False coordinates. As soon as I looked into Ronon Dex's mind, I knew what had to be done."

"What's that?"

"Will you answer two more questions?"

Teyla glanced briefly at John before she returned her attention to the creature. "I will."

The air around the creature shimmered once again and in a flash, it was gone. Before Teyla could even turn to John, it was back. Teyla's brow furrowed as she started to ask what was going on. A commotion in the alcove where Ronon lay drew her attention and halted her words.

Her heart nearly stopped as she saw his feet move, as she heard his rough gasp. "You woke him up. Why did you do that?" She felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth but she held it in, still not trusting this strange creature.

"Because more than anything, Ronon Dex wants to kill Vardis." A wry little smile touched the creature's face but no emotion touched its eyes. "And I know where he is."

* * *

Note: I totally spelled tac light wrong two chapters ago. Of course it's short for tactical light! I'm not so much a person that knows a thing about guns, that's why I will probably never say what type of gun anyone is carrying in a story.

Uh yeah, not much to say about this one. As much as I like writing stereotypical villains, I like writing the villains that aren't really villains too. Blame Farscape. Or maybe Battlestar.

Thanks for all the reviews and emails. I think I had more new readers this week than I have had in ages. So welcome new readers! The next chapter will be up next week sometime. I need to revise a couple of parts and then edit.

Please review!

-Brynna


	24. Chapter 23: Veracity

Disclaimer: I own this story but not SGA.

A/N: Chapter 23! This story whole story is now shockingly AU.

**Chapter 23 - Veracity**

_The sun was too bright to his suddenly sensitive eyes. The sand was too warm beneath his bare feet. The water was too blue and still in the stiff breeze. The moon was too visible nestled there against the sun. _

_A dream. Ronon squeezed his eyes shut. Another dream._

_He was holding a flower. A single white flower that was so like the ones Teyla had in her hair the last time he had dreamed of this beach. He opened his eyes and twirled it gently. It had been so long since he dreamed like this. Ever since he found her, since they started their relationship, he had slept mostly dreamlessly._

_Ronon looked down the beach and saw her sitting there, her knees pulled up with her arms draped loosely around them. He recognized her outfit, shear slips of white fabric that left her midriff bare. He didn't need to look down to see what he was wearing._

_He eyed the sand at his feet warily, remembering how they were sunk deep last time, remembering how he was prevented from following after her. They were free this time and he took one step toward her, then another and another until his pace quickened. He stopped a yard away from her, watched as she picked up a smooth rock and skipped it along the top of the water with a careless toss._

_She turned her head and gave him a bright smile. "Impossible?"_

_He grinned back and closed the distance between them. "It's because I'm dreaming." Ronon dropped to the ground beside her. "Your hair is straight this time." He touched the ends of her hair, noting that it was exactly how it was in real life. Instead of the loose curls she had worn in his last dream, her hair was long and straight and was pulled away from her face with a clip._

_She smiled and reached out to take his hand. "Your fantasy has changed."_

"_Why am I back here?"_

"_You wanted to see me."_

"_We've hardly been apart. We've been apart longer when I went on other missions."_

_Teyla sighed once and turned fully to face him. "You think I am going to be angry about your plan."_

"_Are you?"_

_She laughed a little. "Yes."_

_He swallowed. "Are you going to stay mad?"_

_She tilted her head. "What do you think?"_

_He paused and glanced out at the ocean, struggling to gather his thoughts. "I think we'll be fine."_

"_Will we? You sound confident."_

_He squeezed her hand. "I am."_

"_Why?"_

_Ronon touched her face gently. "You know why." She raised her eyebrow, her expression a bit uncertain. The breeze flirted with the ends of her hair and the strands danced around her face. He brushed her hair back gently. "You must know how I feel."_

_She tilted her head again, narrowed her eyes. "Do I?"_

* * *

Ronon's head felt heavy and his eyelids felt bruised as he suddenly came awake. He could feel Rodney and Carson hovering over him, their whispered words loud and insistent in his ears. He thought he could hear Teyla and that thought had him forcing his eyelids open, had him swinging his legs over the side of the altar. He buried his head in his hands as pain shot up his wounded leg.

He gritted his teeth when he heard Teyla's voice again. He pushed himself off the altar and brushed aside Carson and Rodney as they told him to stay still. "Where is she?" He growled. He didn't care where they were or how they got there, he only cared about seeing Teyla, making sure she was safe.

He stumbled out of the alcove, Rodney and Carson trailing behind him, still protesting even as he gained his footing. He limped purposefully into the great hall, still uncertain as to what was going on or how they all got there.

She stood when she saw him, her eyes were huge with worry. He limped forward a step at a time, the pain in his leg quickly becoming more intense. He could hear blood pounding in his ears as the pain intensified.

He stumbled the last couple of steps toward her and was vaguely aware that she was moving forward to meet him. Ronon halted in front of her, suddenly aware of his surroundings. He glanced back and saw Rodney grinning knowingly. John was looking at the pair, one eyebrow raised as he smiled slightly.

"You alright?" Ronon asked gruffly, his fingers twitching with his desire to reach out and tuck errant strands of hair behind her ear.

"I am fine." She gave him a once over, dragged her eyes down his body before meeting his eyes again. "How are you? What happened to your leg?"

"It's not bad. I'll live." He growled.

"Ronon." Dr. Beckett spoke up. "I need to examine you."

Ronon kept his eyes trained on Teyla. She nodded. "We are fine. I have more questions to answer. Then we can go." She leaned forward, surprising him as she laid a hand on his chest and stood on her tiptoes. "They know about us." She whispered almost imperceptibly, a slightly apologetic smile on her face as she pulled away.

His brow furrowed a little as he took in her words. He didn't really care who knew. Maybe in those uncertain early days when everything still felt fragile, maybe then he would have minded. Now though, now what they had was solid and real and none of the inevitable joking or jests would, or _could_, hurt their relationship.

Ronon shrugged and gave her a private little smile, for a moment ignoring the throbbing pain in his leg and the intense headache behind his eyes. He felt his fingers twitch again as his desire to touch her grew. He clenched his fist instead and finally broke their eye contact. "Alright Doc." He said to Carson, ignoring Rodney's smug little grin as he limped back into the alcove.

* * *

Teyla's heart was pounding as she forced herself to return to her chair. Her eyes tracked Ronon until he disappeared into the alcove with Rodney and Carson.

"You watch him as if you fear you will not see him again," The creature observed carefully, his yellow eyes trained on her.

John spoke up, his voice a bit strained in Teyla's ears. "You never know in our line of work."

Teyla glanced over at her teammate, her brow furrowed as he averted his eyes quickly. She knew he probably was a little bit hurt to only just be learning of their relationship but she could not deal with that now. "What is the next question?"

The creature's eyes flicked over the John and then back to Teyla. "Why did you not tell your friends of this relationship?"

Teyla sighed and turned her eyes briefly to the alcove, wondering how much Ronon could hear. "At first we were just alone so much that it made sense. After that..." She paused, uncharacteristically at a loss for words. "It has been a long time since I have felt this way about someone and I wanted to keep it between us while we could."

John spoke up again, his eyes meeting hers this time. "Atlantis has a bit of a gossip problem and this would have been big news."

She smiled at him grateful that he maybe understood. "It would have been very difficult. This way, we were free to be together without the interference."

"Atlantis sounds like a difficult place. Why do you stay?"

Teyla tilted her head. "Is this your final question?"

The creature paused, possibly considering the questions he had already asked. "I suppose it must be."

"I stay because it has become my home. I miss the Athosians but I can do more good on Atlantis." She paused as he gave a simple nod. "May I ask you something now?"

"It only seems fair."

Teyla's eyes moved to John before she leaned forward in her chair and addressed the creature. "What are you?"

* * *

Ronon was barely listening to Carson's questions as he examined him. He was straining to hear Teyla and he answered what was asked of him with noncommittal grunts.

Carson began to dress his leg wound as Rodney wandered back out into the main hall. "Who is that guy?" Ronon asked with a scowl.

"Not really sure." Carson tied the bandage tight and rummaged in his pack for pain killers. "He was a lizard earlier."

Ronon tore his attention away from whatever was going on in the hall. "What?" He shook his head. "Never mind." He'd find out the story later. "What does he want with Teyla?"

Carson glanced out at the room, looking like he wanted nothing more than to run away and let someone else fill Ronon in. "He is asking her questions. He uh...he scans memories and he examined yours so...he had questions for her."

Ronon's jaw clenched convulsively. "He went into my memories?" Ronon remembered the intrusion of the replicators reaching into their minds. Some of his more private memories started to float to the surface. There were things that were just his, things that were his and Teyla's. He knew there were times she had confided in him, things she had only ever shared with him.

"He did. He was looking for the coordinates to Atlantis and then I suppose he was going to kill you." Carson held two pills out to Ronon and handed over his canteen.

Ronon took the pills and strained again to hear what was going on in the other room. "Are we done here?"

"I'll need to look at that closer when we get back." Carson motioned to the bandaged leg. "I suppose it won't do any good to tell you to stay off of it?"

Ronon answered by hopping off the stone slab. "Thanks Doc." His voice sounded gruff to his own ears. He wasn't sure how to feel. He was a little disoriented. When he passed out, he was in a dark little room, tied up and fighting with a tracking device. He paused mid-stride and looked down at his hands. His wrists were bruised and the skin was torn. Sticky blood was caked over his palms. He brought his right hand closer to his face. A perfect circle of relatively clean skin stood out like a beacon on his palm. The tracker must have stuck to him after all. It must have fallen off once he was brought to the creature.

He looked up and saw Teyla watching him curiously. She was standing near John and Rodney, not listening as the creature conversed with Rodney. Ronon tilted his head in a signal he knew she would recognize. She glanced at the men and made her way over with a simple smile. He touched her hand gently when she was within reach. "How was the questioning?"

"Dr. Beckett filled you in?"

Ronon shrugged. "A bit."

"It was fine. He was no worse than Dr. Heigthmeyer." He smiled even though he could tell she was keeping it light for his benefit. "How are you?" Her face turned serious as she glanced at his leg.

"I'm OK." He grumbled even as the throbbing threatened to knock him off his feet. "So he saw everything?" He motioned toward the creature.

"It would seem so." Teyla said with an uncomfortable little grimace.

"I'm sorry." He grumbled, not even certain what part of all of this was his fault.

She shrugged. "We should go, Ronon. We know where Vardis is." He gave her a confused little look. "The man in glasses." She explained. "Then I can fill you in on...everything."

"How long have I been gone?"

"Just for a couple of days." She glanced over to where their friends still stood. John raised his eyebrows at her. "You know you are going to have to tell me how exactly you got captured and how exactly John made it back to Atlantis and how exactly you happened to grab a tracking device."

He bit back a sad little groan as his dream came to mind. "I think you are going to be mad at me."

"Am I?"

"Yes." He realized their conversation mirrored the one he'd had with dream-Teyla.

"I just do not know if I can stand one of us always being in danger." Her voice was a little bit wistful, maybe even bordering on sad as she started away from him and towards their teammates.

* * *

They got ready to move out quickly. The creature hovered and asked questions when he could. Ronon avoided him, still not ready to face his feelings at the intrusion on his memories.

John and Rodney and Carson threw off a few answers but Teyla stayed mostly quiet. Ronon eyed her as he checked over the gun John handed over. She was making him a bit nervous and his leg was absolutely killing him.

It was when they turned to move out that the creature finally decided to address Ronon directly. "Ronon Dex." His voice rasped. Ronon stopped and turned slowly, his jaw clenched again, almost wishing he were alone so he could spend a bit of time figuring out how to kill the thing. "Do you love her?"

Ronon could sense his teammates around him, he didn't have to look at Teyla to know she was blushing or Rodney to know he was smirking. He didn't need to pause and consider an answer or even face the creature as he gave it. He turned quickly and started out of the great hall with long purposeful strides.

'_Do you love her?'_ He heard echoed in his mind again.

_'You must know how I feel,'_ His dream self repeated softly.

_'Do I?'_ Dream-Teyla asked, her voice just a bit silkier than her real life counterpart.

_'Do you love her?' _The question rang out again in his mind, the words clear even as they became tangled with the answer that rising up.

When he called his answer over his shoulder, his voice was clear, his message concise and his tone a bit insistent.

"Yes."

* * *

Note: Sorry for the delay. I moved to a new house and then did not have Internet for a bit. I also completely rewrote this chapter. You guys don't even know how many versions this one went through. Teyla and Ronon were never supposed to directly say they love each other in this story. I just usually find it really out of place with certain characters and I just couldn't put those words in their mouths...not this version of Teyla and Ronon. Luckily, the creature took care of that admission.

Don't expect the next chapter until probably next week sometime. I won't have a chance to edit it for a few days.

The final chapter is creeping up! Then I have a one-shot ready to post and then I think I'll take a little break from Atlantis before I start my next long fic.

Oh and btw, I am glad some of the fans of this story are Farscape fans. That just tells me you are good people.

-Brynna


	25. Chapter 24: Faith

Disclaimer: I don't own SGA.

A/N: And now for the rest of the story.

**Chapter 24 - Faith**

_The darkness was consuming her._

_The little room they kept her in was absolutely dark. She was certain that it would drive her mad if they did not move her into the light soon._

_She slept and woke, slept and woke, again and again. Had it been hours? Or days? It was taking all of her meditation techniques to keep her calm. She couldn't sit comfortably in the little room and the darkness made it feel like the walls were closing in even tighter._

_She shook her head slowly as she wedged her legs into one corner. A wave of icy nausea made her heave once before she again got herself under control. "I will be alright." She whispered to herself._

_Teyla reached up and felt the knot on the back of her head. Her hair was matted and sticky and the nausea came back. She parted her hair anyway, looking for the gash she knew was there. _

_Her hand was slick when she rubbed it on her pants. She had opened the wound again with her probing. She could feel it trickle down her neck like a bug walking over her smooth skin. She scratched at her neck and shuddered at the thought._

_It was difficult to maneuver in the cramped, dark space but she managed to unclasp and shimmy out of her vest. She shoved unsteady hands into each pocket until her hand met soft cotton. She pulled the handkerchief out and pressed it to the base of her skull. It was one of those strange little multi-purpose survival items that she usually packed out of habit more than need. She sighed as the nausea that had overwhelmed her melted into a throbbing headache._

_Her eyes closed slowly but the view stayed the same._

_She let her thoughts wander, suddenly feeling utterly alert. Where was she? How good of a leap did they get on Ronon? Who had her? Were the others looking for her yet?_

_She envisioned Ronon opening the door and pulling her to her feet, his hands more gentle than most would think as he worried over her wound. She sighed and her thoughts shifted._

_The balcony. She groaned._

_Her thoughts had replayed that day more times than she would ever admit. Ronon kissed her. Ronon kissed her? It still felt like some strange dream. Something that was happening to someone else._

_She let the memory wash over her now, safe with the knowledge that she was all alone. She felt indulgent as she remembered the way he had pressed his body against her back as he pointed to fish in the distance. She remembered his hands threading in her hair when they kissed. She remembered the heady feeling of nervousness and courage and completeness hitting her all at once and then melting away to leave her uncertain._

_She blushed at the memory and sighed again, the tone of the sigh happily wistful. It was a good memory._

_She felt emboldened somehow. Her thoughts were clearer as the throbbing became merely background noise to the persistent chant running through her head._

"_He's coming for me. He's coming for me."_

* * *

Ronon stalked through the gate. He didn't even feel his leg as he raised the gun John gave him. It felt foreign in his hand. It was so much lighter and less substantial than his own gun. He didn't care though. Right now, he cared about exactly two things: ending this thing with Vardis and getting home for a nice long nap and a warm shower.

They didn't have to track far from the gate to find Vardis and his men there. Ronon felt the others moving in behind him as he moved in quickly and pressed the barrel of his gun to Vardis's temple. John and Teyla each had their guns trained on one of the other men.

"Ah, you have found me."

Ronon grunted a reply as Rodney helped John and Teyla collect weapons.

"The creature let you live."

"You shouldn't have trusted him."

Vardis shrugged. "That is why I took my time with Teyla. If you want something done right..." His voice took on a sing-song quality that had Ronon's trigger finger twitching dangerously.

"Teyla..." Ronon growled, his teeth gritted as he waited for her go-ahead. He cut his gaze over to her, wondering if she would falter now that they had him.

"You know I was given permission to do what I did. The ruling council of my people asked me to."

"Was it not obvious that I was never going to answer your questions? Why did you keep torturing me?"

Vardis glanced at her and her stomach turned at his little smile. "Anyone else I have ever questioned could never have held out so long. You were an anomaly. I had to know to what extent."

"She's a person, not an experiment." John said, his tone completely incredulous.

"Semantics." Vardis said smugly.

"Teyla." Ronon growled again.

She looked at him fully and then moved around so Vardis could see her. "We are going to help your people now. How many died while you wasted time?"

Ronon wondered if Teyla took any pleasure from the look on Vardis's face. She glanced at Ronon, her eyes clear and her mouth in a grim line. She looked at him for long moments before she moved past him and the others. He heard her moving toward the gate and he understood her meaning perfectly. She wouldn't tell him what to do but she wouldn't stop him either.

* * *

Teyla felt nauseous as she moved away from her team. Seeing Vardis again had threatened to make her physically ill. Seeing his little grin and those mannerisms she had tried to forget had upset her. She jolted when she heard the gun shot and the wave of relief she suddenly felt nearly brought her to her knees.

It was over.

She was never going to be the kind of person that desired revenge but she was human enough to take pleasure in the fact that the thing that haunted her dreams was no more. She felt the men move up behind her and she gave Ronon a fleeting little smile as he touched her hand gently. She was tired. She had physically pushed herself well beyond what she was truly ready for.

"Can we get out of here?" Ronon grumbled as he watched John tie up the last of Vardis's men.

He was barely staying on his feet and as he swayed a little, Teyla reached a hand up to steady him. "What a team we make."

John limped over and dialed the gate. "I'll send a team through to clean up here."

Teyla looked up at Ronon as John finished the sequence. He was staring at her openly. "What?" She said quietly.

"I'm not sorry."

"Not your finest attempt at an apology." She pressed her hand more firmly into the small of his back as she unconsciously rubbed affectionately.

"One of us is always going to be in danger." He murmured.

She couldn't stop the sigh that escaped. "I know." Her voice had a regretful tone that surprised her and had him turning to face her more fully.

"Don't ̶ " He looked quickly at John who had his eyes firmly trained on the dialing device. "Don't say it like that." He swallowed and closed his eyes against the throbbing pain in his leg. "Not yet."

The gate came alive then and Teyla grasped his arm. "Alright." She carefully tried to sound sure and calm. "Let us go home."

* * *

Ronon made it through the gate on his own two feet and then immediately collapsed into the waiting hands of the familiar medics. John watched with some interest as Teyla slipped off toward her quarters, her eyes only trailing to Ronon for a brief moment. He gave instructions to Lorne so he could take a team and retrieve Vardis's body and the rest of his men. Rodney and Carson were speaking animatedly to Elizabeth on the stairs and John watched as she furrowed her brow at Rodney and turned to head into her office.

John was still in pain but he limped up the stairs and knocked lightly on Elizabeth's door.

John leaned in the doorway to Elizabeth's office. "So I'm guessing you knew about Teyla and Ronon."

Elizabeth looked up from her computer screen. "Yes."

"Kinda weird, don't you think?" John moved to sit across from her, letting out a sigh as he stretched out his injured leg.

"Why?"

He furrowed his brow. "Imagine their kids."

Elizabeth closed her computer, folded her hands together. "They are just dating, John."

"Oh, come on Elizabeth. You and I both know that it's a little more than that."

"True. But, it's still a little premature to be thinking about their children."

"Yeah but, just imagine the day when one of them comes to their Auntie Liz and tells her about how Daddy beats Mommy up."

Elizabeth laughed a bit. "He doesn't hurt her."

"You have never sparred with Ronon." John muttered.

"I've seen her. She can hold her own."

John played with the hem of his shirt sleeve. "It's weird." He mumbled.

"Well, weird or not, it's been really good for her."

He sighed, already getting used to the idea. "I know. I can see that." He watched as she opened her laptop again. "So, Rodney filled you in on the creature thing?"

"A bit." She ran a hand across her forehead. "And Ronon shot Vardis? Unprovoked?" She squinted at the screen and whispered as if only confirming the fact to herself. "So much paperwork."

"Sorry." John said, not sounding sorry at all. "When is the debriefing?"

Elizabeth kept her eyes trained on the computer. "Whenever Ronon feels up to it."

John pushed himself out of the chair. "I'm going to take a shower and grab what is sure to be the best nap of my life." He paused in front of her desk. "You know I should move one of them to a different team. Those are the rules."

"They aren't military, John." She cushioned her chin in her palm, her elbow planted on her desk. "Be happy that your team is all safe and accounted for. Get some rest and deal with everything else later."

* * *

Ronon didn't know if hours or days had passed in the infirmary. He woke with his leg bandaged and throbbing. His head still felt heavy and his thoughts were muddled. He pushed himself out of bed easily, not caring if he met any resistance from the infirmary personnel.

He glanced out the window on his way through the halls. It was dark out. It had been midday when they arrived. He slipped into his room. The room hadn't felt like home in a long time but he didn't want to go looking for Teyla in dirty, blood-splattered clothes.

His shower was quick but the warm water coursed over his aching muscles and nearly made him weep with joy. The clean clothes he slipped into somehow made his head feel better. All-in-all, he felt infinitely more alert as he moved again through the hallways.

Her door was shut and he wondered briefly just how mad she was at him for putting himself in danger. Would her door even open for him?

He paused with his hand raised, a pang shooting through his chest and his breath hitching at just the thought of her shutting him out.

He moved his hand to open the door and felt his breath return to normal as it slid open with a familiar hiss.

She had her back to him. One hand was lightly resting on the pane of the huge plate glass window where rain was weeping down. He hadn't noticed the rain before but it seemed to dominate the room. The lights were off and the moon cast bizarre and ever-changing shadows through the drops. Lightening brightened up the room at odd intervals.

Despite the heaviness of the shower, the water was forming rivulets slowly and making a lazy path down the smooth glass. Teyla's fingers moved slightly, her fingers unconsciously tracing the trails that her eyes were not seeing. Her mind was elsewhere. It was in a dark, cold cell. It was on the mainland with her people. It was in a sterile infirmary that she had seen far too much of in the past year.

She was silent as her hand rose slowly and brushed at her face. He moved to her then, stalked over slowly and placed a hand on her hip. She turned, her expression startled even as she tried to smile.

He moved his thumb across her cheek, dragging it across the scar that dipped below her eye. The gesture made her smile as she always did when he made a point to be tender. "I never wanted you to endanger yourself for me." She said softly, her eyes closing as his hand trailed to her lip where he traced another scar.

"I know." He cupped her head, his fingers entangling in her silky hair. "And then you came after me before you were ready."

She sighed, remembering the words he had spoken earlier. "One of us will always be in danger."

"I think so." He paused and gave a huge heave of breath and stalked one pace away. "I'll give this up. We can go live with the Athosians."

She smiled softly as their gazes met. "I would never do that to you." She pushed at her hair and laughed just a little. "Or me. At least not while the Wraith are still out there."

Teyla stepped closer to him, bridging the gap between them. She knew what it cost him to even make such an offer. "Then what?" He asked as he raised his hand to her cheek. It hovered a breath away, a sure sign that he was still uncertain.

She shrugged and turned her head to press her face into his hand. "I do not want to lose you."

His hand twitched against her cheek. "Going somewhere?" His voice was gruff and sure.

A slow smile spread across her face. She shook her head once. "We are good together. Even in danger."

He nodded. "I meant what I said to that creature." It wasn't in him to form the three little words the creature had sought, they represented a mere shadow of how he truly felt for her, but he felt compelled to remind her that the love was there and real and unwavering.

She sighed and wrapped her arms around him, her head fitting just under his chin. "I know." She said softly.

"Why do you get to be Han Solo?" His voice held a hint of a whine.

"Why are you not still in the infirmary?" She shot back.

"I busted out."

"Dr. Beckett will not be pleased."

"I'm fine, Teyla. I've had enough of the infirmary."

She made a sound of understanding and leaned into him, her ear over his heart. He wrapped his strong arms around her and stared out the window over her head.

She didn't need to say that she had been unbelievably, inconsolably worried or that she had felt as if a part of her had been ripped away while he was missing.

He didn't need to tell her that it meant everything that she had come for him or that he was still feeling little stabs of pain in his chest at the thought of her endangering herself for him.

She didn't tell him that she never imagined this with him. He didn't tell her that he had never imagined anything but this since they met.

They just held each other in the moonlit room, the rhythmic sound of rain their only soundtrack.

When he heard her sigh a little, felt her breath move his shirt, he kissed her head, leaned his chin there. "Hey Teyla." His voice was gravelly. "Wanna spar?"

She laughed against his chest, turning her face to place a simple kiss over his heart. Her hands were fisted in the fresh shirt he had thrown on and she used it as leverage to rise to her tiptoes and touch her lips to his. "Maybe." She breathed, her warm breath against his lips sending shock waves to the tips of his toes.

Ronon snaked an arm around her waist, holding her still so that he could capture her lips more completely. He poured all of his worry and love and sorrow into the kiss. He lifted her slightly, taking her weight off her toes. She smiled against his mouth as he stumbled for the bed.

"What happened to sparring?" She purred.

A low rumble started in his throat at her tone before any words could find their way to the surface. His knees hit the bed and he tumbled with her. "This'll do."

* * *

Note: Review first! Then continue on to Chapter 25.

Brynna


	26. Chapter 25: Terminus

Disclaimer: For the twenty-sixth time, I don't own Stargate: Atlantis.

A/N: The last full chapter...

**Chapter 25 - Terminus**

_Holding hands was strange and...intimate._

_They hadn't been together for long really and their chances to show affection outside of the confines of her room or their cabin on the mainland were few and far between._

_His hand was huge and enveloping. She had always had small hands but she felt like a child with his large, warm hand wrapped entirely around hers._

_Ronon smiled down at her and she was struck by the simplicity of the moment. If anyone happened upon them as they walked on the moonlit beach, they would look like any other happy couple in the galaxy._

_She was limping still but she didn't need her cane or crutches when she had him to lean on. The word 'intimate' floated to her mind again. Why did holding hands seem almost more intimate than making love had?_

"_What?" He said with a gravelly voice, his eyes gazing in the direction they were walking._

"_Hmm?" She asked, not understanding what he was asking._

"_What are you thinking?" His voice rumbled. Anyone else might have thought he sounded harsh but she could hear the softness underneath the gravel._

"_You have huge hands."_

_He smiled down at her again and she laughed when he winked. "I'm a big guy."_

_She swatted at his chest with her free hand and he laughed and jumped as far away as their joined hands would allow. Teyla tugged him back and he dropped her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulders._

_It was weird for them to be so carefree. Teyla found it comforting that they could joke with each other, that their new-found intimacy had caused no awkwardness between them. Instead, it seemed that a tension was lifted. She felt, embarrassingly enough, complete._

_She knew she still had a long way to go. Her healing had only just begun and when his was done, he would be off, back on missions while she stayed behind. Her brow furrowed. Maybe they wouldn't even last beyond their little vacation._

_Could they go back to the way things were before?_

"_Whatever you are thinking..." He said softly. "Stop."_

_She realized she had tensed and she forced her body to relax. "This has been nice." She winced at how decidedly in the past she made it seem._

"_Has been?" He said slowly, another rumble rising from low in his throat._

_She reached for the confidence she usually wore effortlessly. "Is." She amended._

_Ronon squeezed her shoulders. "Is." He agreed. He smiled down at her. "Is going to be." _

* * *

Istene was so different than she had imagined. She didn't know quite what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't the sunny little wooded planet with the large modern village.

Teyla took it all in with curious eyes. Ronon stood less than an arm's length away, watching her more closely than the surroundings.

Elizabeth had gently suggested that they not come to Istene. She had offered to let them have leave for a nice vacation or to give them a different assignment. But Teyla had insisted. The true closure she so desired was within her grasp and she had to have it.

John and Elizabeth had been in contact with the ruling council and this meeting had been carefully planned and heavily anticipated. Members of the council had stood near the gate as the team stepped through, their smiles wide in welcome.

Teyla immediately noticed the men standing guard, their guns held tightly against their chests as they watched the visitors with interest. Elizabeth spoke briefly to the council, introducing the team and Lorne, who had come in place of Dr. Beckett.

Teyla let her eyes wonder. A tall, lovely woman stood off to the side, her hand tight on the shoulder of a tiny little girl. Her hand raised in a small wave when she saw Bradus and the child practically danced with excitement.

Her eyes met Teyla's and some strange kind of understanding passed between them. Did she know of her husband's part in all of this? Teyla stared unabashedly and took in the sorrow in her eyes, the way her hands worried over her daughter, and the way her body leaned, just a bit toward her husband.

"Bradus." Teyla said softly. He moved next to her immediately, his gaze following hers to his wife. "Go reassure her."

He glanced over at her briefly and then moved past the council members and guards. Teyla watched as they stared at each other, as his wife smiled and pressed a shaking hand to her husband's cheek. His hand gripped hers and he kissed it with a few simple words that had her laughing and sobbing all at the same time. Bradus leaned down and kissed his daughter on the forehead and she smiled up at him with reserves of adoration.

Teyla felt Ronon press a hand to the small of her back, his thumb making little circles. The group was moving now and Bradus was back at Ronon's side, moving quietly, a gentle smile now settled on his face.

The council hall was huge and formal and Elizabeth cast an appraising eye on each member of the council as they moved to their chairs behind a long table situated strategically on a dais.

"Your city is impressive." Elizabeth said politely when they were settled.

"Thank you." One man, presumably the leader said. Teyla had missed his name when they arrived.

"I'll cut right to the chase." Elizabeth began. "We do not condone or agree with the methods you employed to find us but we will not hold it against the people of Istene. One of your agents nearly killed Teyla." She gestured at Teyla with a flick of her wrist and all eyes of the council-members turned to face her. "We have met Vardis and other agents whose methods you endorsed and we have been entirely disturbed by them."

Ronon snorted quietly at the understatement of the word 'disturbed' but said nothing.

The council leader spoke up after a quick glance at the other members. "We regret the way things have transpired." His eyes darted quickly to Teyla before settling again on Elizabeth. "We would offer any reparations you desire."

Elizabeth shook her head. "No reparations will restore the months lost to Teyla or remove her scars. No reparations will recover the lives of the people of Istene that were lost while you wasted time."

The man's eyes flashed dangerously and Teyla could only smile. They had the upper hand here, the council could do nothing.

"We will help your people." Elizabeth said simply, her hands clasped in front of her.

"I am detecting a proviso, Dr. Weir."

Elizabeth smiled, no doubt enjoying the discomfort of the entire council. "The condition is simple. Because you have not shown an ability to act with your people's best interest at heart, we will only deal with someone who has."

"And who might that be?" The leader's face was turning red with anger.

"Bradus." Teyla watched Bradus's head jerk up in surprise, his gasp audible. Elizabeth held up a restraining hand as they talked over each other to be the first to explain his part in the plot. "Before you say anything, let me assure you that I know that it was Bradus that chose Teyla but he has since worked to find an alternate way to help your people and he has been both willing to help us and apologetic since he has been with us."

The leader's face was now fully red and he dragged his gaze over to Bradus and then to Teyla. "You agree to this? Knowing what he did, you agree to this?"

Teyla found the question bizarre. What did her opinion matter now? "I trust Dr. Weir." She glanced again at Bradus. "Implicitly." She added for good measure.

The leader sighed heavily and glanced at the man to his right. The man raised his hands with a little shrug. "We will need time to vote." The leader said.

"Still wasting time." Elizabeth clucked with a shake of her head.

If possible, his face turned an even deeper shade of red. "Just for tonight. We will reconvene in the morning. Rooms will be prepared for you."

Elizabeth smiled sweetly and nodded. "Thank you for your hospitality."

Teyla felt Ronon gasp out a little laugh next to her and Elizabeth cut a glance over, effectively silencing him with a raised eyebrow.

Bradus looked shocked at everything that had transpired as Elizabeth turned to leave the hall. "Come on." John whispered to him.

Teyla reached briefly for Ronon and felt him still shaking with laughter beneath her hand. "Stop." She whispered, her own smile touching her lips.

"She was fantastic." He grinned as he followed Elizabeth out the door. "I am so glad she is on our side."

"She's a different kind of warrior, but no less fierce." She felt Ronon's hand grasp hers in an unconscious gesture before he let it go quickly, his eyes meeting hers with an apologetic little smirk. It was more difficult, now that their relationship wasn't a secret, to keep their displays of affection entirely private.

Bradus turned to Elizabeth when they reached the wide-open square in front of the council hall. "You did a number on the council."

She shrugged. "They need our help and if their self-importance gets in the way of helping your people, we will help those who want to be helped anyway."

He grinned and shook his head. "Thank you. For everything."

A guard came out of the hall then with news that their rooms were ready. Bradus shook each of their hands in turn and started for home, everything about him radiating happiness.

* * *

The rooms were spacious and beautifully decorated. Ronon didn't even step a foot into the one prepared for him. He followed Teyla into her room, delighted to see that the bed was long enough to accommodate his large frame.

"This is nice." Teyla said as she moved around the room, pausing at the window to take in the view.

"It should be." Ronon said quickly, his voice gruff.

"Ronon." She said, her tone softly scolding.

"I've been good. I can say it when we're alone."

"Alright." She smiled, moving over to kiss him lightly before moving on to look at the rest of the room.

He stretched out on the bed and closed his eyes. "How do you think they'll vote?"

She shrugged her shoulders as she looked at a bookshelf idly, her hand tracing over the spines of the books, even though she couldn't read the words. "It does not really matter. You heard Elizabeth. The people will get help either way."

"I wonder what attracts the Wraith to this planet so often."

"You know how it is. Sometimes there is no real reason." She laid next to him on the bed, her head settling on his chest. "I wish my bed was this big."

He laughed and her head moved with his chest. "Your bed is already twice as big as mine."

"I know." She said with a smile. "If we ever have our own place though, we are going to have one this big."

His eyebrows raised. "Alright." He said, his voice gruff with surprise and emotion. "We can put up with yours in the meantime."

He felt her nod and turn to curl into him. "Bradus has a lovely family."

"He's a nice guy." Ronon said, his voice dripping with annoyance.

Teyla laughed. "Why do you say it like that?"

"He makes it hard to hate him."

She nodded. "He did help us find you, and he apologized to me more times than I can count."

"I know."

"Would you have done what he did if it meant saving Sateda?"

He groaned. "You can't ask me that."

"Why?"

He kissed her head. "Because he didn't just pick anyone, did he?"

* * *

The council looked deflated and nervous when the team stood in front of them the next morning and Teyla knew at once how they voted.

"We will consent to your condition. Bradus will fill a newly created seat on the council."

Elizabeth nodded. "Once we relocate your people, we will work with Bradus to draw up a treaty."

The leader sighed and nodded, looking tired despite the early hour. "Fine."

Rodney leaned over then and whispered into Elizabeth's ear. She nodded and again faced the council. "The scientists of Atlantis have one final request. We would like to see any intel you have on the creature at Faldaera."

The leader winced. "How do you know about that?"

Elizabeth tilted her head. "Ronon was taken there."

The leader turned to eye Ronon. "That's not possible. He's alive."

Ronon raised an eyebrow and the man looked away, clearly intimidated by his challenging smirk.

"Apparently the creature was too interested in Ronon to kill him." Elizabeth said.

The leader glanced again at Ronon and then nodded at a man three seats to the left. He leaned forward. "I am Terrus, the scientific advisor. I am afraid I cannot tell you much. The creation of the creature predates our recorded history. There were three of them once, each in a different quadrant of the galaxy. Dr. McKay, perhaps you would like to meet with me and some of our researchers."

Rodney nodded and looked to Elizabeth as Terrus stood expectantly. "Major Lorne." She said simply. He moved to follow the pair out of the room.

"What is the next step?" The leader asked.

"I will consult with Bradus and we will begin the relocation process at once."

The leader nodded and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine." He said again.

Elizabeth smiled, seeming suddenly to take some pity on the frazzled looking man. "You have made the right decision. Your people will be safe now."

* * *

Jogging around the city was not her favorite way to exercise. Teyla's body was, for all intents and purposes, healed. She was pushing herself harder than ever now, working out twice and sometimes three times a day to get her muscles back into shape.

Things were actually quiet in the city for once.

The relocation of the people of Istene had gone smoothly. Elizabeth had sent three teams and a dozen marines to help move the people to their new home. Temporary dwellings were constructed on the new little planet by anyone who could spare a couple of days away from Atlantis.

Rodney learned a precious few facts about the creature but he was determined to continue the research. He contacted Dr. Jackson at Stargate Command for help gathering information and he was trying to figure out a way to convince Elizabeth that a mission to the creature's home planet to learn more was important and necessary.

Teyla jogged down a long catwalk, high above a large hanger.

She and Ronon had visited her people for a few days after the relocation was complete. They had settled back into their vacation mode, spending time with her people during the day and holing up in the little cabin on the beach as soon as it grew dark.

She smiled as she remembered Ronon's relaxed face as he laid on the little bed and stared at the wooden slats of the ceiling. "I think we could fit one of those big beds in here." He had said, eyeing her wryly.

"Someday." She had agreed.

Her feet carried her from the hanger to a huge cavernous room that held one of the many large machines that ran some vital system in the city.

Elizabeth had turned over all the prisoners, including a newly captured Cayus, to Bradus and she had let him decide, without interference, what should be done with them.

She started down a long flight of stairs, starting a meandering path that would take her back to her quarters.

The city seemed a little more sunny somehow. People smiled at her as she jogged by and whatever tension was marring the calm of Atlantis was gone and replaced by a new lightness that had everybody enjoying this break before whatever danger was sure to lie ahead.

She passed the sparring room on her way to her quarters and peeked inside out of habit. She ground to a halt when she saw him there, her breath loud and uneven in her ears as she fought to steady it.

The sparring room was empty except for Ronon. He leaned against the wall, his legs crossed casually at the ankle and his arms crossed over his chest. He wore what she thought of as his default expression, mouth relaxed, eyes serious.

"Long run." He said simply.

She moved into the room and pushed at hair that was escaping from her ponytail. "Yes." Her breathing had evened now and she could feel her heartbeat returning to its normal pace.

"How do you feel?"

She smiled slowly. "Great."

He pushed himself away from the wall and stalked to the center of the mat. "Then I have a question for you."

Her brow twitched and her smile grew. "What?"

Ronon's face melted slightly and it caused her heart to thud loudly again. His smile was slow and soft but his eyes twinkled with delight and she knew what was coming. He would finally get to ask his joking question seriously. "What?" She asked again, impatient now to hear it.

He smirked, a little dangerously and arched one eyebrow. "Teyla." He said her name as if it was a term of endearment. "Wanna spar?"

* * *

Note: I am not completely thrilled with this chapter but I am thrilled with the Epilogue. Review and continue!

Brynna


	27. Epilogue: Sparring

Disclaimer: Don't own SGA.

A/N: This is it. :)

**Epilogue - Sparring**

Her smile nearly disarmed him. He gripped his stick tighter and raised an eyebrow. It was all too easy to remember a time when he thought he would never see that smile again.

She stood calmly, her own sticks held loosely in her hands where they dangled at her sides. He let his gaze rake over her, looking for any sign of weakness. If he saw any indication that she wasn't ready, he would shut this down before it began.

She looked healthy and vital again. Her body was again toned, her weight normal. He let his eyes settle on the long, deep scar he could just make out on her calf. It was smooth and looked completely healed. The scar from the surgery on her stomach made an angry slash across her midriff but he knew that too had long-since stopped bothering her. His traveling gaze continued, lingering for a few moments on the burn scar on her arm and the scars on her shoulder before he again met her smiling face.

"Well?" She asked, her full smile melting into an impish grin. "Do you need to see my back, too?"

He smiled then and shook his head. He saw the scars on her back every day. He saw _all_ the scars every day. "Just making sure." He said simply before raising his stick and grasping it with both hands.

She lifted hers in answer. Her mouth twitched and her eyebrows raised in an expectant expression. "If you go easy on me..." She let her words trail, the implied threat more than enough to get her message across.

Ronon's head shook once, a simple twitch before he lunged.

He moved like a lion, all of his energy moving forward explosively, his stick swinging over his head in one great arc.

Her sticks clashed against his as she spun away, her movements as smooth as any dancer's. He was startled at her speed and grace for only a moment before he lunged again. It was possible she was in even better shape than before. She had once lamented the fact that she would be a little stiffer now, a little less fluid but as she twirled around him, her sticks crashing down on his as if their moves were choreographed, he saw none of that.

She danced around the mat and his heart soared. He didn't think he would win this one. He was unfocused, so utterly proud of her. That she had made it this far was a miracle. He remembered the night in the cave when he had been so overwhelmed by her injuries and weakness. He could never have imagined this day then.

Teyla grinned at him as one of her sticks connected with his shoulder and he knew his own smile was gentle with emotion. He didn't feel the sting but her quiet chuckle sent a shock wave through him. "Where are your thoughts?" She asked as they squared off again.

He shrugged and she came in low this time, his stick stopped hers just before they could pop against his knees. He fought to bring his thoughts to the present. They had both waited so long for this moment, for both of them to be healthy and strong. The very brief, sorrowful little fight they had after Melena's death anniversary didn't count in his mind, this was their first time to really face off in longer than he could remember.

Her sticks crashed down against his again and again as she danced around him. He launched himself at her, hoping to overtake her speed and agility with his strength.

She laughed again and moved out of the way. Her sticks found the backs of his knees and he felt his legs buckle. She moved like lightening as she twirled around him, the sticks connecting square in the center of his chest.

He felt his back hit the mat and his stick clattered to the wooden floor and hit the wall. She leaned over him, grinning. "Well?" She said again.

"You didn't grab me by the throat." He said, remembering the very first time they ever sparred.

"I cannot reach." She teased, holding out a hand to help him up.

He grasped it and rocked forward. She was rooted to her spot as he stood and his body was pressed against hers. He lifted a hand to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. "I am proud of you." The words sounded uncharacteristic and strange coming from his mouth but when he saw her face light up, a wide smile of pure delight stretching across, he didn't care a bit how he sounded.

"I never thought I would get to this point." She said, dropping the sticks and wrapping her arms around his waist.

He didn't know for sure if she was talking about the sparring or the happiness or their relationship but he didn't dwell on it, his answer was the same. "I had a few doubts myself."

She gave him a tight squeeze and pressed a warm kiss to the side of his neck. "Well?" She asked, once more.

He gave her a half smile and a peck on the lips before gently pushing her away and turning to pick up his stick.

He pushed at his thick dreadlocks with his free hand and took his spot on the mat. Her look was questioning but she picked up her sticks and faced him, a slow smile playing across her features. He thought she had never been more beautiful, not in his dreams or in reality, as she was in that moment. It took his breath away to see her standing across from him, healthy and happy, her eyes full of trust and love for him.

He remembered hunting for her for all those months, wishing for this moment. Wishing for her to be back on Atlantis and real and, in his wildest dreams, he wished she was _his_.

Ronon twirled his stick a couple of times. "Well," He said slowly, his mind finally realizing that the landmark moment had passed. Now things were the new version of normal. She was alright and he was alright and they were exactly where he always wanted them to be; standing at the precipice of a lifetime of togetherness. He smiled easily and the expression seemed to fit his face now. It was no longer a rare or foreign occurrence to see his face reflect his inner happiness. His eyes met hers and he saw it again, the unwavering trust and depth of emotion.

"Yes?"

Her voice was a little confused at his long pause and his grinned widened. It wasn't that moment he had been waiting for, he realized now. It wasn't the sparring he had so anticipated, it was this feeling that their long ordeal was over. It was this moment.

When he spoke again, his words were mundane in their simplicity, but he knew she would see them for what they were, an acknowledgment of how far she had come, how far they had come together.

"Best two out of three?" His eyes and voice were gentle, giving the words heightened gravitas and causing her own eyes to flash with an intoxicating mixture of understanding and love and relief.

She stepped forward and he stepped forward and they moved together in their version of a dance, each content with the knowledge that a chapter of their life together was complete and each hopeful and expectant as they looked to the chapters that had yet to be written.

* * *

Note: And that's it. Thanks to everyone who stuck with it through all the lulls in posting. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and emailed and spurred me on. Thanks for the award nominations (and votes) and favorites and alerts. I hope I gave all of you the ending you wanted. I loved writing Teyla and Ronon and, someday, after I get a few other stories in other fandoms out of my head, I will return to their story.

In the meantime, I'll read all of your fantastic stories and finally allow myself to watch some new SGA.

Thank you for the support and for coming along for the ride.

Brynna

P.S. For the last time...review!


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